


Talks in Enbarr’s afternoons and nights

by Kuro_Ko



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Art, F/F, Fluff, Gay Panic, Idiots in Love, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:08:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27157747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kuro_Ko/pseuds/Kuro_Ko
Summary: Edelgard is dragged by Dorothea into a coffee shop she hasn't been to before, where she meets Byleth. After a rocky introduction, Edelgard swears to never step on that coffee shop again.She does so the next week.Byleth will be waiting for her no matter how long it can take.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 3
Kudos: 81
Collections: Edeleth Big Bang 2020





	1. The end of a long, cold winter

#### I.

In all the years Edelgard had lived in the city, she had never visited that particular café. Despite being in the city center, her route to the university had never coincided with that part of the city, which she frequented only in case of need or when the subway line failed and she had to take the bus instead. It was one of the few moments in which she allowed herself the leisure of looking out the window to see the urban landscape moving under her feet, allowing herself to simply sit there, the only moment where she didn’t follow her thoughts in the usual rush that characterized them. Without working on her next thesis, her next class, her next evaluation or research.

Just being there, with no pressing matters, no urgent need that required her attention.

It was in itself a blessing she didn’t allow herself often.

It was almost as scarce as going to a new place that didn’t involve her job, like now as Dorothea pushed her down the street, encouraging her to speed up and navigate among the tide of people that came and went from the underground station to the great avenue. A sea of people and colors in which getting lost was a real possibility and finding each other again a nuisance and a delay that she did not want to experience.

Two blessings in one day and for some reason, Edelgard failed to feel excited about.

_I wonder why…_

Dorothea was dragging her by her arm, their arms locked in a strong grip. Edelgard couldn’t help but feel small in those moments when the extra twelve centimeters of her friend showed every time she smiled down at her. Dorothea continued to gush over this wonderful person who she had met recently and they were basically going to spy in that coffee shop.

“They are so great! Oh, Edie, you’ll love them as well… Ingrid, they are gentle, and courteous, and knowledgeable…”

“I get it, they sound great, I’m just surprised that you seem to have fallen for someone instead of keeping your options… open,” Edelgard said, as they emerged from the mass of people and slowed down a bit near the walls of the old buildings that composed the city’s downtown. Large stained glass windows exposed the products of international brands that had bought a piece of land along with the businesses that had been offering their services for decades. Despite the similarity, the contrast could be seen in the details and Edelgard registered this area of the city, cataloging the pastel-colored facades and the walls marked by slogans or street art that endowed them with personality and identity.

Her observational skills couldn't really be tuned out, not when she had trained them for years and her life was built around them, her research, and her success in her field thanks to the connections she could make by recognizing patterns.

A puff of hot, perfumed air brought her back to reality.

And she couldn't help noticing every little detail as she entered the cafeteria, the pristine sound of a bell announcing those who entered and exited the dark mahogany wood-designed living room, antique chairs, and the unmistakable smell of hot coffee being served. It was an old, almost niche coffee shop, where people sat down to drink the hot drink in white mugs accompanied by sweets or some salty snack to quell the afternoon’s hunger before dinner.

She followed the taller woman, who wore a huge smile even before reaching the inn to search for the one favored with her affections. Edelgard searched the tables and their diners quickly, it didn't seem like a busy day, most of the tables were empty and those that were occupied only had diners who seemed more interested in reading or checking their computers than consuming from their steaming mugs.

“Dorothea! You, uh, you are here!” The person at the other side of the counter, blonde and slim, smiled with that almost indescribable something of those who were in front of the person they were in love with.

“Ingrid, Darling! Of course I am, I told you I was coming…” She leaned over the counter as she said it, her posture was the same as she used when flirting with the countless suitors she had had in high school, the only difference was the expression on her face. Dorothea was missing the usual confidence she oozed in these interactions, replaced by an unlikely nervousness and a smile from ear to ear.

Or at least so it seemed to her. Edelgard had to admit that she had known Dorothea long enough to read through her masks.

“What can I get you?”

“Oh, you know me, something sweet and fruity.” She laughed, extending her card and resting her cheek on her right hand.

“Of course! Let- Let me get you started with a- a caramel macchiato… and what can I get you, miss ...?” Ingrid noticed Edelgard, their green eyes slightly more focused on seeing her, a more professional smile in place.

“Edelgard is fine. An americano for me, thank you,” She said, looking for her wallet in her purse.

“Oh, don’t worry Edie, I got you covered this time!” Dorothea winked at her, as Ingrid disappeared behind the counter preparing their drinks in a flash. They moved with the skill of someone who was used to a task. Edelgard considered saying something to her friend, but decided to take out her phone and send her a “they’re cute and really into you” message. Dorothea fumbled with her phone, unlocking its screen just to read it and blush badly.

“Oh, Edie, I just hope you’re right…” She whispered, her words muffled by the hand that rested on her cheek. Edelgard smiled at her, a sincere smile for whom had been her friend and confidant since childhood.

“It’s going to be alright.”

“Ok! Here you are! The americano and yours, Dorothea.” Ingrid smiled as they set the drink before her. Edelgard took the white mug they offered her and motioned to her friend, letting her know that she could take as much time as she needed. Edelgard turned, smiling to herself, surprised at how Dorothea and Ingrid had painted on their faces the attraction they felt for each other, that somewhat silly smile that was the characteristic mark of who was falling in love. 

Her mug and jaw dropped at the same time when she saw the person who stood behind her in line.

A woman, a few inches taller, with wild messy hair, an impassive expression, and the deepest blue eyes she'd ever seen had materialized, waiting her turn to order. Now she was staring at the floor where the mug had been smashed to pieces, staining Edelgard’s black-heeled boots with coffee and the stranger’s Dr. Martens.

The silence that always followed an accident or catastrophe spread throughout the place, diners looking up from the screens of their cell phones, books or the place where they had let their eyes get lost to look at it.

To look at them.

“I- I’m sorry!” She bent down to retrieve the pieces, the dark liquid rushing across the polished wood floor, the woman's stained, motionless black books. _What’s up with her?_

How did she dare to look like that in plain sight? How did she manage to let the cup slip from her hand just because a woman, _a gorgeous woman,_ had appeared on her vision field?

Edelgard bit her lower lip to catch the sigh that filled her throat.

“Oh, Edelgard, I’ve got it!” Ingrid came from behind the counter, broom and dustpan in hand to pick up the little pieces of pottery that were scattered on the floor. Edelgard remained in the same position, picking up the larger pieces. The stranger squatted, her elbows on her knees in a position that seemed to accommodate her, her fingers deftly moving, grabbing the broken pottery in order rather than going for the most prominent pieces.

“Byleth, don’t worry, I’ll have this cleared up in a second… Annette! Mind tending the count a bit?” Ingrid offered them the pan to leave the pieces, gracing Edelgard with a reassuring smile before assuring them that they could leave it to them. They both got up at once, Edelgard was painfully reminded the woman was taller than her. She cleared her throat; even though she couldn’t trust her voice at the moment, an apology was in order.

Even if that meant seeing the woman's face again, _Byleth_ she mentally corrected herself, exposing her brain to malfunction, again.

“I…” _Come on, El, you’ve faced active volcanoes and have picked hot lava with a bucket, you can do this._ “I apologize, I was careless, are you all right?”

“Yes.” Byleth looked at her, curious eyes in a blank face, before smiling slightly at her and looking behind her at the inn. “It’s nothing serious, I’ve done the same a couple of times already.”

“Oh yes, for someone who is usually so collected you’ve broken a couple of mugs as well, haven’t you Byleth?” The girl on the other side of the counter, Annette according to what Ingrid had said, smiled at her as she started to prepare a drink without waiting for the order. “I mean, I was pretty surprised that time when you broke the mug by just _holding_ it.”

“My bad, I forget that my dad made sure we were pretty strong.” The woman approached the counter, Edelgard noticed the backpack that hung from her shoulder, a huge notebook with musical notes protruded from it. She had seen them before, in the stationeries next to the supplies for high school students, blank sheet music waiting to be filled with music that few could read but many enjoyed.

“Edie, are you ok?” Edelgard snapped out of it, Dorothea was looking at her with a face she knew. She had caught her and would tease her for this till the end of the year, at least.

“Yeah, fine, it was just an accident.” She wanted to escape and, at the same time, stay. Annette smiled at her as she handed her another cup with the remade drink. She accepted it with a word of thanks, the blush rising up her neck and beginning to colonize her ears.

“Here’s yours, Byleth, extra foam.”

“Thanks. Edelgard, it was a pleasure.” Byleth nodded once more in deference before walking away to one of the unoccupied tables, leaving her coffee cup and backpack on it. She seemed totally lost in her world.

Edelgard looked at her, puzzled, before Ingrid asked her to move so they could finish cleaning the floor.

The woman decided that she wouldn’t return to that coffee shop in at least half a year, when the shame she felt left her chest and stopped being repeated in her mind in an eternal loop

#### II.

Edelgard leaned over the counter, this time Annette was behind it and there was no sign of Ingrid. It made sense, that was also the reason why Dorothea hadn’t jumped out to accompany her when she told her she was going to the coffee shop.

Although she had raised both eyebrows and smiled at her with a sly grin hard to ignore.

Edelgard did her best to actually ignore her.

Annette was now making a sweeter drink, chattering on simple things, and Edelgard searched the room with a growing sense of guilt. Of course, she had returned because of the strange blue-eyed woman. She hoped to see her again despite the small part of her that was mortified at the thought of their first meeting. Edelgard, at twenty-seven, was an adult woman, in control of her emotions, responsible. And she knew herself well enough to know when a woman capitalized on her thoughts.

She just needed to see her a few more times, rationalize that fixation, realize it was just a thing of the moment, the hormones playing tricks on her. After all, her teachers had lied to her when they told her that hormones were a thing of adolescence; they continued to flourish like unwanted guests who never knocked on the door or apologized.

She lied to herself, saying that rationalizing was the best way to control those intrusive thoughts.

“You know, I’m surprised you’re asking for the caramel foamy coffee, last time you had a black strong coffee.”

“Oh, I just needed the extra boost last time. I’m sorry for the cup, again.”

“Don’t worry, really. It happens all the time!” Annette had an easy smile and a kind voice, her cheeks were covered in freckles and she couldn’t help but smile at her. “Here you go, a macchiato with extra caramel to go.” Edelgard nodded as she received the black plastic vase she had brought with herself.

“Thank you…” She looked around, somewhat disappointed. The woman wasn’t there and the only patron was a man with long blue hair reading a book, his beverage forgotten.

“Of course! I hope to see you soon!” The barista bowed and waved her goodbye as she exited the coffee shop and walked toward the subway.

It had been a stupid idea to come back, such a waste of time.

Edelgard bit her bottom lip.

She knew she’d be back next week.

#### III.

“Hi, Felix.”

“Hey.” Felix looked at her briefly to acknowledge her presence, before going back to his book, his expression didn’t change throughout the exchange. Byleth smiled at him, sipping her own coffee and looking at her cellphone. She had a couple of unread messages from Sothis.

 _“Is she there?”_ Sothis was one of the only people she knew that never used contractions in her texts.

_“no”_

_“Better luck next time, kid.”_

Byleth put her phone down, holding her sigh as she felt the hot steam from her cup, dark coffee reflecting her disappointed face. She pressed her lips together ever so slightly. She was being ridiculous, she knew that, yet she couldn’t find in herself the will to try to change it.

She hadn’t taken out her notes, her laptop, or even her pen. Felix looked at the lack of any of her usual work implements and raised an eyebrow.

“What’s going on?” He asked, his book still on his hand, his dark brown eyes on her.

“Nothing important.”

“Yeah, right. Suit yourself.” He sipped his coffee, not believing a word. Byleth tapped the table with her fingers, following a rhythmic pattern that resonated in her head. She had many projects due soon, she should be working on the final details of the song she had been requested for the upcoming game she had been working on.

She had to fill up a form and send her feedback about the soundtrack part of the other team had been working on.

The reflection in the dark coffee didn’t look compelled to do any of those things.

“Say, Felix. Would you be up for some sparring?”

“Yes, do you have the time for me to kick your butt?”

“I’d like for you to try.”

She needed to get her mind off the woman. Edelgard. Her black boots followed the same pattern that her fingers.

“We can arrange that, but first you need to stop procrastinating at my table, you either do your job or get lost, don’t distract me with that tapping nonsense. I have enough of that with Sylvain.”

Byleth smiled, Felix always found how to cheer her up through his odd self. She sipped her coffee, keeping her legs still.

She could do that.

Her notebook was calling for her. She knew she had so much else to do, but she knew herself. One way or another she needed to get the imagery out of her head. She opened her backpack and got her plain notebook out alongside her pen, making it dance in her fingers in a rhythmical pattern before setting down to work.

Edelgard was her name.

She used purple ribbons.

Not purple, no, lilac maybe.

They harmonized with her eyes.

She had beautiful eyes.

With every observation Byleth wrote a note, a motive, an idea. She worked fast; her hands swift over the paper as this was routine for her. Her mind was lost in the image of an embarrassed woman in red and black looking at her sheepishly after breaking a mug of coffee.

Such a common scene.

Such a normal mistake.

Such a cute reaction.

Byleth didn’t realize, but she was smiling as her handwriting got the whole page covered and the notes started to stand out less as scribbles and more as music to her eyes. She could hear it now, lengthening as the waves and the tides of her own talent created, Edelgard wind in her sails.

She stopped, a hand on her chin and the pen between her fingers, looking at the page.

There was something good there, something worth polishing.

Felix had been looking at her over his coffee. He, as well, was smiling. That was more like the Byleth he knew.

Byleth made some final notes, writing some details about how to harmonize those different feelings, linking them in a chain impossible to ignore and bound to stir the feelings in everybody’s souls, before closing the notebook and getting back to her laptop.

She needed to check those samples they had sent her in the morning.

The thought of the music she had just envisioned followed her around the afternoon, as the ghost of an idea that was crystallizing in her mind rested in the back of her thoughts, nestling itself, rooting itself.

A seed that would soon grow, shyly first.

A seed that would bloom with force before spring arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't thank [Lina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinaLuthor/pseuds/LinaLuthor) enough for betaing this story and the big star of this chapter!! Scion!!! Who made the wonderful art for this chapter and gay panicking Edie! You can find her great art in this link to her [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/tsumibo/)!


	2. Fertile seeds for a coy spring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She was lucky in a way; Byleth was there, on a table with her laptop opened and a pen in her fingers, scribbling down quickly as she took notes, listening to whatever the computer was playing through her headphones.
> 
> She was lucky.
> 
> Yes, real lucky.
> 
> Then why did she feel as the earth had just opened beneath her feet?

#### IV.

The next time Edelgard entered the coffee shop was next to Dorothea, who had agreed to go with her only if she were to go and watch her next show. It was an easy deal, Edelgard was always up to support her friend no matter what the endeavor was.

“I’m glad you liked Ingrid’s shop, really, but why are you coming back so often?”

“A third time is hardly enough to be called often. The season is just right for some coffee and I thought you’d jump at the opportunity to see Ingrid again.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, dear, I can’t wait to see my handsome Ingrid again, but I got their number and they seem more willing for us to see each other out of their job too.”

“Oh.” Edelgard eyed her with an eyebrow raised. “Congratulations, then, seems like you are making progress.”

“I’m just happy to spend time with them but, oh, Edie, they are wonderful… we’ll need to have a drink to keep talking about this though.'' Dorothea winked at her, opening the door for her, her smile warm and full. Edelgard snorted as she entered the shop, but was incapable of hiding her smile.

Her friend’s happiness was contagious.

“Dorothea, Edelgard, good to see you here!” Annette was sweeping the floor and waved at them as the actress closed the door behind her. Ingrid’s head snapped upon hearing Dorothea’s name, their skin coloring a new shade of red.

Edelgard, however, had seen the object of her infatuations and confirmed that her first impressions were, in fact, not fair to how breathtaking the woman was to her.

“Hey! Go-Good to see you! Uh…” Ingrid cleaned their hands in their apron, before running them in their braided hair, a sheepish, yet beaming smile on their face. Edelgard poked Dorothea’s side with her elbow, before making her way to the counter.

“Ingrid, why don’t you take your break? You haven’t even had lunch yet!” Annette winked at Dorothea, as she pushed Ingrid to her, shoving them out of the counter. “Ashe is around, he can give me a hand, right?”

A man, small and with sweet, soft features, appeared from behind the counter, his expression a bit confused but nodding nonetheless.

“Sure thing. Ingrid, go and have fun, we’ll take care of things…”

Edelgard watched as Dorothea grabbed Ingrid’s hand and guided them away from the counter, as they fumbled with their apron and an impossible blush colored their cheeks. She smiled.

It seemed like Dorothea had gotten into them hard, maybe as hard as Dorothea was in for them.

She looked around, sobering up, she had a mission she had to accomplish that day. Get her head clear and her feelings sorted out. She just needed to have a little talk with Byleth and make her look like a human being instead of a surreal creature to her and her days would be back to being peaceful and uneventful, back to her thoughts swift and direct, instead of taking curves and corners to land again in the blue-eyed woman and her wild hair and strong physique.

She was lucky in a way; Byleth was there, on a table with her laptop opened and a pen in her fingers, scribbling down quickly as she took notes, listening to whatever the computer was playing through her headphones.

She was lucky.

Yes, real lucky.

Then why did she feel as the earth had just opened beneath her feet?

She swallowed, trying to rationalize the situation, think things through logically. She had the advantage if she was to say so, Byleth hadn’t seen her and as such she could decide the best course of action.

She was wearing the same black boots, her jeans cuffed despite the freezing temperatures outside, a gray coat thrown mindlessly across the other chair.

A white mug, a barely visible brown stain in the corner.

Edelgard was absolutely at a loss, everything her mind had rehearsed without her permission in her idle moments flying away through the window.

She turned around, collecting her thoughts and giving herself just a bit more time to decide. Annette was talking to Ashe, asking him to pass her some of the mugs that had been recently cleaned to have them nearby and congratulating him on the process, positive reinforcements at every little step.

He smiled at her fondly.

Edelgard realized she was surrounded by people in love.

_This doesn’t make it any easier…_

Love was such a difficult thing to process, such an unpredictable thing to try to control, to try to even give a sense of direction to. She had had more luck predicting and understanding exploding volcanoes and slumbering magma chambers ready to burst at any second than getting at peace with her own feelings and emotions when they seem to come out of nowhere, strong and rude, unwavering through any storm, weathering any effort to harness them.

Crashing tides that had been merciless with her in the past.

“Umh… Annette.” She leaned on the counter, looking for a friendly face, a hand to ground her in the growing storm her mind was turning into.

That wasn’t how she had envisioned this, neither how she had planned it.

_I can’t believe I’m just mumbling about love to myself within the minutes of seeing her… Edelgard, you have work to do._

“Edelgard! So happy to have you patronizing us! What can I get you?”

“Ah… I’d like tea this time.” _If I have coffee I may burst._ “Umh… about that last time I broke that mug.”

“That’s an old story, Edelgard, you don’t need to worry about that!”

“I know, it’s just… I caused an inconvenience to Byleth that time and I was thinking…” _Edelgard von Hresvelg, for the love of everything that’s sacred, you can do this._ “I’d like to buy her a coffee to compensate for it, a way to apologize.” Annette was opening her mouth, surely to dismiss her worries again, Edelgard rushed in to cut her. “It’ll make me feel better, do you know what’s her favorite coffee?” She asked, trying hard to sound calm and succeeding fairly enough. Annette smiled at her, a knowing smile she decided to ignore, and nodded, working fast, asking for small things from Ashe who fumbled behind her to keep pace.

“Here you go, black tea with cinnamon for you, a strong, black coffee for Byleth… grab the sugar bowl, you’ll need it.” She handled her a little tray with two white mugs, exactly the same but with completely different aromas. Edelgard thanked her and extended her some bills to cover for the drinks. They’d figure out the change later.

She had a mission.

The next step was clear and easy. Give her the coffee, exchange pleasantries, and get done with it.

Easy.

Then why was she trembling? Her hands dangerously tilted the tray as her nervousness took a hold on her. _How preposterous._ She breathed deep, gathering her bearings and bracing herself.

Emotions, so intricate and ethereal even when they were hers. Even when they were produced by someone who never praised herself for loving fiercely.

_Do it and conquer yourself._

She crossed the couple of meters that separated her from the table and cleared her throat, the blue-haired woman not acknowledging her presence, too engulfed in her job and whatever she was listening to.

Edelgard cleared her throat again.

There was no reaction.

Her fingers were quick taking notes, handwriting she couldn’t understand from her position, hundreds of little notches in the paper that seemed to be linked by wobbly lines.

“Excuse me…” Her voice trailed off, soft and low.

No response.

She controlled the whine that wanted to escape from her mouth.

“Byleth?” She said, just a bit louder.

The woman looked up, blinking a couple of times to come back to the same reality her body was anchored to. Edelgard saw how her pupils adjusted to the light, widening and shrinking before setting in her. An intense, fixed look.

A chill ran through her spine.

“Hey, hi… I…” Her blue eyes were so intense, they were burning her, making it so much difficult. “I’m sorry for last time, Annette told me this is your favorite coffee, here, please accept it as an apology…” She extended the tray, the right mug toward her, a pleading look in her eyes to not ask her further questions. _Just a thank you, just a “you didn’t have to” and that’ll be enough and I’ll be gone. You’re human, you exist in this realm and have no right to keep getting in my thoughts as you have recently._

But… didn’t she have that right?

Byleth looked at the mug, then at her; a tiny smile formed in her lips as she nodded and took the cup from her hands.

Edelgard had to contain her sigh of relief.

“Would you like to sit with me?”

She had felt victorious too soon.

Nodding, she set her own cup of tea across the table and the sugar bowl. Byleth was quick in getting her things out of the way, taking her coat and shoving it with her laptop and notebook aside, to the corner of the tiny table. Edelgard hung her purse from the ear of the chair, sitting down neatly, reserved, scared maybe.

She didn’t know none of those emotions made it to the surface, her port and demeanor oozing realness and dignity she wasn’t aware she conveyed.

Byleth looked at her, her eyes a mystery to her, before taking the sugar bowl and getting a generous teaspoon of sugar. She proceeded to add at least four of those to her cup, before stirring it with a content hum. Edelgard raised an eyebrow eyeing the drink, unsure she’d try it after it.

“Edelgard, right?” Byleth asked, looking at her again before taking a sip from her coffee. The woman nodded, asking herself how much sugar she was consuming per day. “Thank you, it wasn’t a big deal, really, it happens all the time.”

“Still, I’m just glad I didn’t ruin your boots.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time they get sprayed with something. Mud is harder to get out of them,” she said, taking a second, long sip. Edelgard realized she hadn’t tasted hers still. She blew it softly, before barely testing it.

It was bitter and earthly in her tongue. Soothing in a way.

She needed all the soothing she could find at that moment.

“Anyway, thank you for dropping by, I was hitting a wall just now.” Byleth tilted her head to show her work abandoned for the moment. “I’m not sharp today, it seems.”

“If you don’t mind telling me, what do you do?” Another sip of tea to warm her belly, resting her hands around the mug. Dorothea would laugh when she heard about her conversation, joking that she was the one that used to ask those questions when she was looking for a rich husband to help her out of her desperate situation, years ago.

“Oh, I’m just trying to work out a heartfelt piece for an original soundtrack…” She takes the sugar bowl and adds another teaspoon. Edelgard contains a smile and a shaking of her head to accompany it. “But I’m no good with those, I’ll figure it out eventually.”

_A musician… that’s unexpected._

“What do you like to compose?” She asked, aware that if she kept the dialogue going she could control it.

“Upbeat music, suspense music, elevator music…”

“Elevator music?”

“Yeah, loft soft music, the one they put in the supermarket or the dentist’s place or whatever they want you to feel relaxed and at home.” Byleth’s hands tapped her mug, following a pattern she wasn’t able to recognize but she was sure she’d heard before.

“I see. I’m afraid I’m quite ignorant in that field, I never dedicated myself that much to it.”

“You don’t need to study it to feel it and enjoy it, I guess that’s what I like about it.” Byleth let the cup, now empty, on the table, her eyes fixed on hers again. Edelgard felt her heart rate increasing through the ceiling again.

She needed to find a new thread to tug quickly, if not she’d lose the control of the conversation and she’d be powerless and defenseless.

“I’ll have it in mind next time I go to the supermarket…” _Great, excellent, yes, give her another place to appear in your thoughts._

“What about you?”

“Pardon me?”

“What do you do?”

“Oh… I’m a volcanologist, I’m usually working at the university and doing some scholar work, sometimes I get to go on a field trip, those are exciting.” She leaned back, just noticing how far in she had leaned on the table toward Byleth. Byleth looked at her, a small, almost impossible to detect smile on her lips. Her head was slightly tilted listening to her. Her eyes blue.

So blue.

It was the ocean in the morning light, unwavering, ceaseless, looking at her.

“I’m sure you have some really interesting stories to tell, then,” she said, resting her chin in her right hand, a gesture that made her gut react in a way that she wasn’t willing to accept.

“I suppose…” She averted her eyes, looking at the other side of the coffee shop. Annette and Ashe talked calmly at the counter, smiling at each other. At the other corner, Dorothea had Ingrid’s hand in hers, she couldn’t see her friend’s face from there, but she was sure how she’d look by seeing the persistent blush in Ingrid’s cheeks.

She took a sip of her tea, going back to something known to buy herself more time. She was making a fool of herself.

She should’ve never come back to the coffee shop.

Over the edge of her mug, she saw Byleth’s calm, intrigued face.

But had she ever had a say on this? Had it ever been her decision?

The tea was over with that last sip.

“In any case… it’s fun, at least for me.” Edelgard kept her eyes on her mug, angry at herself for being so vulnerable, so unsure, so uncertain.

That wasn’t her.

That wasn’t the person she wanted to be.

“Have you seen a volcano?” Byleth’s eyes were impossible to read and impossible to look away from.

“We live near mountains, active mountains, I believe we all have seen at least one in our life.”

“No, I mean the crater of an active volcano.”

“Ah…” That was a question that was in her element, that was something she could answer without doubting or getting herself worked up. “Yes, several, we need to get as close as possible to study them. It’s dangerous though.”

“I can imagine… do you have pictures or videos?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m always looking for visual references, they help,” she said as if that short explanation was enough. In a way it was; Edelgard understood part of the creative process, or so she thought. A video of an active crater from a volcano was surely something else for someone who created for a living.

“I have some. We need them later when we’re back analyzing samples.” Edelgard looked at her, raising an eyebrow and letting herself relax for the first time since she entered the cafeteria. “I could share them with you, though they’re nothing really that impressive.”

Byleth nodded, her smile just a bit wider.

“I’d like that. I’m here every Wednesday if you want to come by and have some coffee with me and talk about things.” She said, her hand still resting in her chin, her head tilted to the right. “These tables were made for more than one, too.”

Her eyes on hers.

“Yes, I’d like that,” she blurted, without even thinking about it.

“Thank you, I’m looking forward to it.”

Edelgard smiled, a tight grin, she could feel the heat rushing through her veins and the waves of realization hitting her one after the other.

_Dorothea will never let me hear the end of this…_

#### V.

Byleth was going through her notes, her pencil dancing in her hands as she considered what her latest request was and the details she still had to tune to make something she’d be happy with. Her coffee cup was warm when she took a sip from it, her pencil drumming a rhythm that lived in her mind only.

She didn’t hear the bell when the door opened.

She almost missed the slight rocking of the table as someone sat in front of her.

Byleth looked up, blinking to come back from her mind to her reality, leaving behind the landscape of her mind covered by feelings and notes that explained it. Music that would tell the tales of the universe.

Edelgard was there and a fluttering note, like the flying of a dragonfly, interrupted all her thoughts. Byleth smiled and set aside her notebook.

“Hey, good to see you,” she said, a soft smile on her lips she wasn’t aware of, as Edelgard set her cup on the table and her purse, a different one Byleth noticed, perched on the chair.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything…”

“Not at all, I was just thinking about some details, but you know, sometimes the right answer comes by when we do other things.” Usually she’d wait for the weekend to get away from the city, looking for the right answer in the green zones near Enbarr. Usually.

Maybe this time she wouldn’t need to wait that long.

“I have to agree, but I do prefer to get the answers at the moment I have the question, don’t you?” Edelgard did the best to stop herself from playing with her hair, her red coat was stuffy and getting in her way as she tried to liberate herself from it, painfully aware how warm her blood ran and how her cheeks were fighting a blush to not avail.

She wanted to groan.

It wasn’t fair.

And yet she was there, braving her own awkwardness and fears because a pair of blue eyes had looked at her and put a spell on hers.

Byleth rested her left cheek in her left fist, she looked adorable.

_Control yourself, Edelgard._

“I found what you asked of me the other day…” Edelgard looked through her phone, searching for the video she had downloaded from her work computer into it. Technically it was part of her last research and thus academic material she shouldn’t share so easily with the rest of the world.

Edelgard had found she didn’t care about any of those things when she looked for it the day before.

Byleth raised an eyebrow, as she received the device and glanced at the screen.

The smile she received in compensation was so beautiful that Edelgard didn’t mind any possible retaliation.

To her surprise, Byleth set the cellphone on the table as she fetched her notebook and opened it again, her pencil lighting over the page as she took notes, stopping the video and letting it go again, getting it to her right ear to listen to it closely and writing again as quickly as possible, her handwriting barely readable at that point.

Edelgard looked at the sudden burst of activity and had a sip of her cup. She didn’t mind the strange behavior, it was charming, it was different.

She didn’t mind at all.

Instead she remained there, watching how the musician created art she couldn’t hear yet, witnessing a process that was mostly silent but would ignite and spark into music that would open dreams and worlds for people all around the world.

* * *

“I didn’t know you could fish all of these near Enbarr.” Edelgard looked at the pictures Byleth showed her, unsure how she was still interested in them, despite she was. She was tilted forward, her hair lightly brushing the table and Byleth’s hand as she looked at the pictures and pictured what the other woman told her.

“Most people don’t venture that much outside the city,” she stated simply, her tone calm and collected as always. Edelgard was starting to understand that Byleth wasn’t known for raising her tone of voice, nor for displaying that much emotion. “I started to when I moved to Enbarr, some years ago.” She locked her phone, setting it aside with her notebook, Edelgard noticed that her clothing was light for such an early spring. “It helps me figure out the next step when I get stuck in a composition…” She leaned back in her chair, scratching her nose and letting Edelgard admire the muscles in her forearms as she did.

It was a new day, a new week and she had been back again, never missing a day to see her. Byleth was a rather eccentric character, calm and centered, always assertive in her statements and yet kind. It was a strange combination that invited Edelgard to be open with her; it made her feel safe to be just Edelgard, with all her little flaws and her own uniqueness.

The woman, drinking from her cup of tea, wasn’t sure if she liked it or not.

Or, to be fair, she wasn’t sure if she liked to be so defenseless when she was around Byleth.

“I know you can’t talk about your current jobs, but would you be ok to share some of the old works you have? I’m rather curious now…”

“Oh, sure, I don’t publish under my name, I was asked to use a pseudonym…” Byleth opened her laptop, inseparable alongside her notebook and pencil. “Have you heard about the Fire Emblem game saga? It seems to be a big deal for some people…” She was going through her files, wondering what was the best to show Edelgard, completely unaware of how the woman in front of her had choked on her tea and was coughing, trying to catch her breath.

“Fire emblem? The strategy games?”

“I think so, they ask for a lot of tender compositions too…” Byleth looked at her, she used to rest her chin in her left hand as her right hand ghosted over the mousepad. “You know them?”

Know them? They were part of her favorite games, excuse her. Edelgard thought about the endless hours she had spent leveling up characters, getting all different routes and endings, reading about the lore of the different worlds and the history behind each game.

She thought of the countless nights when she had been tired, and aching, and lonely and stressed and had just turned on her console and let herself be lost in hours of strategies and planning and discovery that the games meant to her.

She thought of how she kept a copy of each of them at home, a personal collection she was so proud of.

“Yes. I like playing whenever I’m stressed or tired and just want to relax...” It was all she said, biting her tongue to keep herself from gushing over them.

Byleth raised an eyebrow but smiled, “I composed some of the soundtrack for their last games, here…” She extended her headphones, as she had found a piece that she thought was good enough. “This is the most known piece, but not my best…” Byleth waited for her to put on the headphones and then hit play. 

Edelgard had a second to admire how relaxed she looked despite offering her work and art so openly. She was no stranger to the nervous feeling that churned her stomach and clenched her voice when she had to present her own work, which wasn’t based on her sensitivity, but her observations of facts.

It was just a second.

But a second that left her in awe.

And then the music started and she forgot everything else. She knew the piece; she knew it by heart as she had heard it for hours as she played through the games. It stirred memories in her that she treasured and despised. A final boss theme, one that had been so difficult to beat that, when she’d finally accomplished it, Edelgard had poured herself a cup of wine to celebrate. Her eyes, wide and shocked, looked at Byleth’s, blue and calm.

She was the musician behind some of her favorite music.

She was the musician that had accompanied her through so many hours and difficult times, so many different stages in her life. Byleth had been a ghost in some of the roughest years of her life and she hadn’t even known about it.

Her eyes must’ve told her something, because the musician raised her eyebrows in a silent question, her left fist still supporting her chin, her posture relaxed.

“Byleth…” Edelgard managed to say, her voice small, drawn in so many emotions that it was difficult to find it among them.

“Do you like it?”

How was she supposed to answer that? Edelgard closed her eyes and kept enjoying the piece, trying hard not to think of anything but just let herself be drawn into the well of her emotions.

* * *

“It was stupid, but I loved that hat…” Edelgard laughed, encouraged by the intense look in Byleth’s eyes and her smile, confident and inviting. The musician, as usual, was tapping her fingers mindlessly as she heard, nodding to let her know she had her attention.

“It was a sacrifice to be paid to an old god.”

“I tend to think it was because I was careless, but that’s a way to see it, I suppose.” Edelgard smiled, her hands joined as she leaned forward. Byleth blinked and tilted her head sideways as if she was analyzing her.

Edelgard had learned that it was her way of listening, as well.

“It’s a lot of hard work and little glamour, to be honest. But I like it a lot.” She drank from her cup, Byleth nodding as she played now with her pencil, never letting go of it. At the beginning she had thought that Byleth was a still, collected person, and she was, but at the same time she had dozens of little quirks, her constant tapping, her head tilting, rocking in her chair, always playing with a pencil in her hands.

It was like an endless supply of energy had to find an exit through little actions, tics that had come to be part of her personality at this point.

“I don’t think any labor is more glamorous than others… Some people think that I should be in a studio working, trying to receive the purest inspiration from the moon. The truth is that I enjoy working here, more than in the studio I have at home, at least to get ideas.” Byleth looked around, to the diners that talked quietly, to the chairs and tables she had come to love, to the counter where Ingrid and Annette talked idly. “Yet the products of what we create and do are worth the hardships, aren't they?” She finished, her indigo eyes back at her, stealing a beat of her heart and making her breath hitch just slightly.

Edelgard smiled and nodded.

Byleth used to be right when she let herself talk.

“Agreed.” Edelgard drank the rest of her tea, looking at her cup before going back to Byleth, by her forearm that never failed to amused her with the sleeping power contained in those muscles. “Do you want more coffee?”

“Later, thank you.” Byleth stretched her fingers, some of them cracked as her face winced.

“Are you ok?”

“Felix was a tough opponent on our weekend spar, I think I may have overworked my wrists,” she said absently, turning her wrists before setting her hands on the table again.

“It is a risk every now and then, isn’t it? More when you make a living with what your hands produce.”

“In a sense, but it helps me clear my mind… as much as when I go fishing. It’s a family tradition, too. My dad was really proud of me and my brother’s talent.” Her hands were large, she believed they were warm too. Edelgard wished to hold them. “Did you go to Ingrid’s race? I didn’t see you there…” She said, her eyes looking a little shy, as she was talking about something that she should be ashamed of. Edelgard smiled, a tang of regret in her features.

“I couldn’t, Dorothea was there. They’ve come quite close these last weeks.”

“I’m happy for them. Ingrid looks… happier,” she said, looking at their direction and waving at them when their green eyes focused on the table. Ingrid answered in the same manner, a wide smile on their lips.

“Dorothea does too, I suppose that love does change us.”

“Yes.” Byleth’s eyes were on her, focused, intense, wide. Edelgard felt a shiver running through her spine. “It does.”

#### VI.

Dorothea had agreed to give her a ride to the coffee shop. Edelgard looked through the window, enjoying a different scenery, unaware of how much her thoughts had changed since the first time she had accompanied Dorothea to that coffee shop. She didn’t think in thesis and theory any longer while looking outside the window.

She didn’t write her notes, reviewing them endlessly.

She allowed herself time just to breathe and detach herself from her job and everything around it.

She allowed herself just to enjoy the ride, despite the destination being much sweeter.

“I’m rather amused at how quickly you’ve fallen for her, you know?”

“Dorothea…”

“Oh, it isn’t a bad thing, Edie. It’s not like you’re moving in together. You just see each other in that coffee shop for the goddess’ love. I would complain but you’re actually giving Ingrid money, so I’ll keep that to myself. It just surprises me.” She stopped at a red light and looked at her, her eyebrows raised but her expression a curious, happy one.

“I just like talking to her.”

“Be honest, you think she’s hot.”

“She’s very attractive, yes. Anybody that has eyes can testify for that.”

“She’s hot, but there’s something more.” Dorothea started the car again, closing in their destination. “I haven’t seen you like this in such a long time. I’m quite happy, to be honest. I wish you wouldn’t be that afraid to take it further.”

“Excuse you, it seems that you’re projecting your own insecurities in me.”

“Insecurities? Well no, dear Edie, have you forgotten I’m dropping you off to get my Ingrid?” She winked at her, taking a second to enjoy the scowl in Edelgard’s face.

“Talking about moving fast…”

“Oh, shush, we haven’t moved in together or anything, I’m just happy to accompany them to get a haircut. Can’t one just enjoy those little treasurable moments with one’s significant other?” The drama in her voice was rehearsed, it sounded natural and true.

True to everyone who hadn’t heard it all their lives, as Edelgard had.

“Just…” Edelgard sobered up, her insecurities bubbling up and getting the best of her. She hated it, she hated to admit there was a weakness in her façade to the world. She hated to think she was vulnerable.

She was vulnerable and alone again.

“Dorothea, do you think she…” The question died in her lips. Dorothea was her friend, she could tell her anything and she’d embrace her and accept her, covering her in her love and understanding.

Still, insecurities were tireless creatures, hunting hounds that chased her relentlessly.

“She fancies women? Edie, she wears Dr. Martens and cuffs her jeans, I would say that practically covers it if it wasn’t a stereotype…” Dorothea scoffed, clicking her tongue in the process. She sensed the change in the atmosphere and stopped the car again, reaching for her girlfriend’s hand to coax her into opening her true feelings to her. “I can’t tell you that, Edie. I do think she does, but the only one that can truly say is Byleth herself. Why don’t you ask her?”

“You don’t expect me to just sit down and ask her if she likes women, do you?” Edelgard feared her friend actually did.

“You could, I wouldn’t disapprove of such a direct approach but…” Her green eyes were kind when they smiled at her. “I know for sure that’s not your style. You could tell her, you know? Open yourself up first so she feels invited to say it too. Sometimes you need to be brave first so the rest can follow.”

“That’s easier said than done.”

“Too true, yet I know you, Edelgard von Hresvelg, and you aren’t a coward.” She let go of her, squeezing her hands before to comfort her. “Listen, if you don’t want to be in the dark forever, the fastest way is to ask her. You can do it as you wish, but wouldn’t it be nice to know? Wouldn’t it be nice to know instead of just… hope? More so now, you’re leaving soon. Wouldn’t it be nice to just know instead of supposing during the time you’ll be out?”

Edelgard thought about it, looking through the window and seat belt restricting her. She felt the weight of it all on her shoulders, her own insecurities feasting in her chest, her fears jabbing her sides.

“Edie, look at me.” Edelgard complied, her friend was serious, all playfulness lost from her warm eyes. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“She could say she isn’t available for me.”

“Yes, and what else?”

“… I see your point.”

“Don’t defeat yourself before starting, would you? You’re too brilliant for that.” She smiled at Edelgard, turned the car on, and resumed driving them. Edelgard thanked her in silence. “Besides, this is an excellent opportunity for you to exchange numbers or something.”

“Oh, shush.”

“Love you too.” Dorothea took a turn and they were there, in the very center of the city, bustling streets around them, endless cars and people coming and going never stopping. In the middle of a crowd, they saw Ingrid waiting outside the coffee shop and looking at their watch. “Now, do me a favor and send them my way, and Edie.” Edelgard stopped unfastening her seatbelt to look at her. “Just a step forward, yes?”

“I know. Thank you…” She got out of the car and made sure her strides were even and calm as she made her way to Ingrid. Their hair was braided as usual, but they shifted their weight from one foot to the other one in a dance that was marked by nervousness. Ingrid hugged themselves, their hands a strong grip around their arms, containing the desire to look at the watch again.

Edelgard smiled, she supposed she looked like that to everybody else. Her smile wasn’t affected when she realized she had compared herself to a lovestruck fool.

_Well done, El, you’re talking yourself into it. Bravo._

“Ingrid,” she called, waving her hand and smiling at them. Ingrid saw her and sprung into action, excitement behind each step. “Dorothea sent me to fetch you, I hope you forgive me for not stopping for small talk. I fear what could happen if I keep you from her.” She joked, pointing behind her toward the car and raising her eyebrows in an exaggeration. Ingrid smiled, shaking their head before moving a bit faster.

Behind them, at the other side of the old window adorned with golden letters, a relic from a distant past that managed to survive the years and different remodeling, Byleth was in her own world, watching her laptop with her headphones on and a white mug on her left hand, her right playing with her pen as always.

She felt her stomach twist and her cheek fluster.

_You don’t need to talk yourself into it, you’re already deep enough._

“Thanks, Edelgard. Hope to see you around!” Ingrid winked at her as if they knew exactly what they did and what it meant to Edelgard, before jogging toward Dorothea’s car.

Edelgard blinked, watching as they got in the car and kissed Dorothea hello. She swore she had seen a mischievous smirk in Ingrid’s face. Dorothea was rubbing too much on them for their own good. She sighed, controlling her impulse to rub her temples and looked at Byleth again. She kept working in her own world, she could see how she scribbled quickly on her notebook, thumbed it back and forth, translated whatever she saw there into music in her pentagram book and then went back to her laptop to go back and forth to the song she was listening to.

Edelgard breathed in deep, taking strength in the spring sun over them, realizing how much time she had been doing this little routine, how much time she had been spending with Byleth. She could do it, Byleth was her friend, or at least she thought.

She could ask Byleth.

She could trust Byleth.

Gathering her strength in a resolution carved in stone, she crossed the last couple of meters and entered the building, the coffee smell welcoming her like a long-lost friend.

“Welcome!” Annette was waving at her, motioning for her to go already to sit with Byleth and she’d get her order in no time. She asked for the same almost every time, it was a safe bet what to serve her.

Edelgard nodded in thanks and made her way quickly. She sat on the chair across from Byleth, who had taken to always leave it empty for her instead of using it to let her coat and backpack and whatever she was carrying around.

Edelgard noticed how Byleth kept her coat around even when the days grew warmer and warmer.

“Hey there,” she said as a way of greeting. Byleth looked up and smiled, taking her headphones away and getting the laptop out of her way.

“Good to see you. I hoped you would come by today.”

“Here I am, what is it you’re working on now?” She was nervous despite her resolution still unwavering. Butterflies flew around her belly with little regard to her feelings or if she had allowed them to do so.

“A new videogame, they sent the details today and how many scenes they need to cover… it’s a fun project for now, you’ll see me when I’m near the deadline and it isn’t fun anymore,” she said, motioning to her notebooks with her left hand, now free of her cup.

Edelgard had learned to pick up the little inflections and changes in Byleth’s tone. Her voice was filled with little details she had to put attention at the beginning to understand, but that now seemed as natural as breathing. Her chin rested in her hands as her smile grew bigger.

She couldn’t help it.

Seeing Byleth made her happy. Listening to her left her tender and warm.

She hadn’t experienced anything like it in such a long time.

“I’ll take your word on it, unfortunately I may not be around to see it myself.” Byleth’s expression changed immediately when she said that, sobering up and raising an eyebrow. Her heart shrunk just by looking at her; who would’ve thought that such a calm, collected woman could display such a puppy face? “It isn’t a bad thing. I’ll need to leave for work for a couple of weeks. I was informed at the beginning of the week, it’s a rather sudden trip, but I can’t say no when they take me to active volcanos for free to study them, you know?”

“I suppose you can’t…” Byleth took her cup, looked at it, and set it aside, it was as empty. “I’m happy for you, but I’ll miss you. I didn’t lie when I said you help me in my working process.” She took her little notebook and thumbed it, her eyes lost, fixed in it with something that resembled a pout.

“Oh, don’t be so down, I’ll get you a present from my trip.” She joked, leaning in just slightly, enough for Byleth to let her notebook and eye her curiously.

Edelgard was always surprised how quickly she had learned to read her body language.

Byleth was waiting for her question, even if Edelgard wasn’t ready to ask it.

She cleared her throat, leaning back and away from her and backing up to try to work more courage before diving in as the question that had been eating her.

Byleth raised both eyebrows before taking her notebook to thumb through it quickly again, going back pages and pages, almost to the beginning, before extending it to her. It was a page filled with her handwriting and her usual scribbles, she could see notes and words popping out without really making something out of it.

“Byleth?”

“You seem to be nervous to share something with me… So I’m sharing something I find embarrassing myself to make it even,” she said, her finger tapping the top of the page. Edelgard eyed her curiously before leaning in to read in more detail the words there. She recognized some, but Byleth’s handwriting was difficult to decipher on its own, more even when she added her notes that made no sense to anybody but her. Byleth pushed it a bit more, inviting her to take it and look at it with attention.

“What’s this?” She went through the page, squinting her eyes to force herself to see what she was missing. Byleth looked at her over the edge of the notebook and her eyes were shy. That was a new look she didn’t know she could deliver so easily and so endearing.

Edelgard felt a blush that tried to work its way through to her cheeks.

_Not this time._

And then she saw it.

Her name was written on the page, in a way that it was almost impossible to recognize, but once she was able to tell it apart, she started to read the whole page easier and easier until its meaning became true before her eyes.

“Byleth…?”

“Remember the day you dropped the coffee mug at my feet?” She used her right hand to rest her cheek on, her head tilted slightly as she usually did when she listened to her.

Edelgard nodded, incapable of vocalizing what was running wild through her mind, shapeless and wordless, yet shaking every fiber of her body.

“I thought you looked… different, so I got curious and just wrote down some of the things I noticed. Things are music in my mind, so I just added the notes I relate to those feelings.”

“Byleth…”

_How can you say something so warm, so beautiful and expect me to follow it up coherently?_

“In any case, it’s something I felt a bit ashamed about.” Byleth pointed to the notebook with the index of her right, brushing her own cheek as she did. “But it’s ok, I trust you’ll understand.”

“I… thank you.”

“What for?”

“For trusting in me.”

Byleth smiled. A beautiful smile that never failed to make her heart skip a beat.

“Thank you, I’m happy you dropped that coffee, to be honest,” she said, receiving the notebook that Edelgard extended to her. She fumbled with her side ponytail, sure that she was losing her battle against her blush. Edelgard leaned back as Byleth let the notebook on top of her laptop, her smile still there.

This was the moment.

It’d be as good as any other that would come.

_Think on what Dorothea will say if you don’t do this._

“I like women.”

_Ugh… that’s not exactly how I wanted to phrase it, thank you, brain._

“That’s ok.” Byleth looked at her, sporting a more serious expression now. “I thought you knew I don’t mind these things at all.”

“Yes, of course.” _But it’s still difficult to talk about this out loud._ “But I prefer to be cautious…”

“I’m not a volcano, Edelgard, I won’t explode because you throw something at me.” Byleth looked at her cup, extending her hand to grab it, before remembering it was empty and closing it in a fist. “I like women, too.”

The silence that followed was accompanied by the honks and the ceaseless breathing of the city in the outside world, the people that had no idea what had just happened between them and went normally about their lives as if the world of Edelgard hadn’t cracked.

As if the shattering sound could’ve been heard just by her.

Byleth looked at her, her blue, wide eyes composed and entertained. Her head tilted slightly more in her hand, waiting for her to continue their conversation.

“I see…” She stopped, unsure how to follow. She knew how much she edited herself on a daily basis. She was more than aware of how much she did when she was with Byleth and their conversations turned serious.

It was a dichotomy she couldn’t quite place, a person she was so sincere and open with in some aspects, never afraid of being herself, before turning back into hiding behind a mask to protect herself from things she didn’t even know were there.

“I… thank you, for sharing with me,” she finally said, clasping her hands and avoiding her eyes. Her blush had won that battle, she knew it was pointless trying to keep it in control.

She also knew a part in her mind had completely disconnected, celebrating in a blind joy what she had just confirmed.

“We never talk about it, though.” Byleth leaned just a bit, as she used to, setting her hands on the table and tapping with her fingers in a rhythmical pattern that was never misplaced, always in time. “Are you seeing somebody? Maybe you’d like to introduce me to someone?” Her hair was wild, as usual, her words kind, her voice intrigued.

Edelgard regretted her mind disconnected and split, she’d need her whole attention to navigate that conversation.

“No, nothing of the sort.” She coughed, thinking about the possibility. “My last relationship was long ago. It didn’t last long, either.” She said, her clasped hands were making an excellent job at keeping her tremble away.

“How was she?” Byleth’s curiosity wasn’t new. She was always willing to learn more about her, to know more about her, to understand what she liked and what she was passionate about.

Sometimes it could backfire, such curiosity and wish to understand others was a gift, but at the same time a weapon.

Edelgard loved that aspect of Byleth, how she would listen to her rambling about the things she loved with a smile, nodding and occasionally asking a sharp question that demonstrated she was paying attention.

Edelgard loved it, and yet at that moment she felt intimidated by it.

“Whatever do you mean?”

“What did she do to make you happy?” Her tone was genuine. Her tone invited her to think into so many implications, so many possibilities.

_Oh._

_Don’t you dare to go there._

“Oh.” She kept silent for a second longer, enough for Byleth to lean back on her chair, drawing away from her as her mouth transformed from her curious smile to frown into a thin line, before starting to vocalize an apology.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“No! It’s ok!” Edelgard lunged herself on top of the table, grabbing her hands as understanding dawned on her. Byleth’s eyes widened, looking at her, their hands linked together, and then her lilac eyes again. “It’s been so long I just needed a moment to actually remember…” Edelgard smiled, a small smile. Byleth smiled as well, wide and inviting. Edelgard noticed that her ears moved slightly when she did so.

It was the first time she saw her smile so hard since she knew her.

It hit her with the strength of a moving train, leaving her dumbfounded and disoriented.

She needed more than a second to pick herself up after that.

Byleth squeezed her hands, bringing her back to her senses, and her senses demanded her to blush profusely as she realized they still were holding hands. She didn’t let go of Byleth, enjoying it for a second longer.

Maybe a couple of seconds.

Edelgard cleared her throat, trying to find her voice despite the iron grip she felt in her neck.

“So, yeah… She was no good. Dorothea was really happy when we broke out…”

“I see…”

“It was a long time ago; I haven’t thought about it in a while.” She tried to smile, to play it off and get back to her senses. Their linked hands were warm, maybe too warm for those early spring days.

She didn’t mind.

She didn’t mind at all.

_What am I to say…?_

“What about you?” Edelgard wanted to know, but at the same time she feared the answer. It was the logic step, a question, an answer and a new question. Byleth had told her it was the basic structure of any song. She’d said that the music was articulated in voices that never truly stopped asking each other doubts and questions, proposing ideas and solutions in a never-ending story. Byleth tilted her head a bit more, her smile wavered and her ears moved back to their serious expression.

Edelgard refused to acknowledge how much she could pick up from such a small expression.

Byleth let go of her, scratching the back of her head in an uncharacteristic nervous tic, her smile apologetic. Edelgard felt her curiosity winning over her own fears and leaned forward, a crooked shy smile and her eyebrow raised.

“I’m not really good with people, I think you know already,” she said, her voice small and so strangely shy for someone who used to be so assertive and strong. “So, I prefer to keep to myself.”

“You don’t need to do it when we’re together, you know that?”

Byleth smiled again, wide and warm and open. She was blossoming just like the sprouts of early spring that didn’t fear a late snow in spring. Edelgard felt the floor beneath her disappearing, her stomach twisting and churning, her fingers tingling.

_Oh crap._

“I know, I’ll miss you these days you’ll be away…”

“Oh, don’t be sad, think that I’ll be under the sun wearing a ridiculous hat and collecting rocks in a bucket.” Edelgard winked at her, clasping her hands to rest her chin in them, her smile growing with every second. “By summer I’ll be back, and I’m already wishing to listen to whatever you compose, you know I’m a big fan of your work.”

Byleth smiled, extending her hand in a clear invitation Edelgard didn’t let pass by. She grabbed her fingers, always surprised by the calluses there, the strength in each of them and yet the care and skilled work she could create with each of them. Those beautiful blue eyes looked at their hands, her thumb running lazily over the back of her hand.

“Let me invite you to one last cup, I’d like to retain you longer today…” She said, not looking at her, her thumb still caressing her hand as she was a precious object that should be cared for.

Edelgard smiled.

She could indulge her in that.

“As many as you want.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A new day and a new chapter! This time we've all been treated by the amazing art from Yulia and Max!! Please find their profiles below:
> 
> [Yulia](https://twitter.com/HochuliaArt)  
> You can also find Yulia through her Deviant Art [account!](https://www.deviantart.com/yulia-hochulia/art/Edeleth-coffeeshop-859060599)  
> [Max](https://twitter.com/pixeIpastry)
> 
> Give them some love because they have been amazing to work with and their talent inspiring! A new chapter and we're halfway there, I hope you are liking this story as much as I enjoyed writing it! Kudos and comments are always appreciated.
> 
> Be safe and untill next chapter!


	3. The steady and relentless growing amidst scorching summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her feelings were similar. She knew they were there, she always acknowledged them, but then when she didn’t think about them, they’d resurface after a day under the warmth of her affections.
> 
> Byleth grimaced at herself.
> 
> She was falling hard.

####  **VII.**

Byleth was sitting in the coffee shop as she usually did, looking at her notes and listening to the samples she’d worked on at her home, tuning and changing little things, making adjustments, deciding on what she’d keep, what she should scrap.

She was thinking about Edelgard.

The music was good, it followed a pace and a single pattern could be threaded in each composition. All pieces could be put together and combined. It was a cohesive soundtrack. She still needed to adjust some of them, change some of those notes. Her hand was fast writing down what her impressions were after a day of just letting the music rest.

She was thinking about Edelgard.

Her lilac ribbons.

Her confident smile.

Her strong, firm voice.

The music started again in a loop, it was a sad melody, requested especially for the moments when the audience should be led gently, subtly, to sorrow, grief, loss.

Designed to evoke what was lost, what had been left behind.

She was thinking about her conversations, never-ending stories where she felt free and light and filled with ideas afterward.

Byleth unplugged her headphones, sighing and rubbing her temples and the bridge of her nose. No work could be done if she was in such a pitiful state.

She needed to focus, Edelgard would be gone for a couple more weeks. Closing her laptop she just looked outside through the window. Winter was starting to come to an end, soon the snow would melt and whatever that was trapped under it would be revealed by the spring’s sun.

Her feelings were similar. She knew they were there, she always acknowledged them, but then when she didn’t think about them, they’d resurface after a day under the warmth of her affections.

Byleth grimaced at herself.

She was falling hard.

“Hey, Professor! Fancy finding you here!” Sylvain dropped in the chair across her, a wide smile and a wink she knew too well. Byleth sobered up, already resigned to the fact that she wouldn’t get any work done that afternoon.

If Sothis were to find out about it, she’d never heard the end of it.

“Hey, Sylvain, I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Yeah, Felix didn’t ask me to come around and Ingrid has been more willing to visit us lately. I’ve been pretty busy too, I’m working hard these days.” He smiled, patting his chest in a friendly manner. Looking at him she realized she hadn’t been to the dojo in a while. She allowed herself to feel remorseful about it for a couple of seconds.

Just enough as to put it in her calendar again.

“I guess I haven’t been around that much lately.”

“No prob, we know you have lots of work to do, and…” Sylvain leaned in, the witty smile in his face turning into mischief. “We know there’s a pretty lady you’re spending your time with, too.”

“Pretty isn’t strong enough.”

“Oh! So you won’t deny it? Way to go, Professor!” His fist hit the table with excitement, the customers around them looked at them with a disapproving face. From the counter Ingrid sent a scowl toward Sylvain, who waved it off, winking at them.

Ingrid sighed, shaking their head, a smile difficult to hide shining in their lips.

“So? Why don’t you share a little more about this lady of yours? Any pictures? Her name? What do you like about her?” Sylvain tilted forward, his elbow on the table supporting his weight. Byleth looked at him and a slight smile adorned her mouth.

With all his antics, she loved him. Byleth knew that was his way of caring.

“Her name is Edelgard.” 

“That’s an uncommon name…” He leaned forward more and now both of his elbows and hands rested on the table. “What else, come one Professor, don’t be shy! I’ve always shared my adventures with all of you, haven’t I?”

“Unfortunately.” Ingrid had come to them with a mug in their hands and a grimace carved on their face. “We’ve heard about your  _ adventures _ a bit more than we cared, really.” They sat down next to him. Sylvain seemed completely unbothered by the little scolding, elbowing them in a friendly manner with a bright smile.

“Well, Ingrid, you have seen this mysterious lady! I haven’t had the pleasure since I haven’t been invited around and Felix has stopped asking me to pick him up from the coffee shop.” He turned to Byleth, his smile never wavering. “Come on, Professor! Indulge me just this once, you must wanna brag out about this lady, don’t you?”

“Sylvain…” Ingrid sighed, rubbing their face to hide their smile and muffle their groan. They had been friends for the longest time, Ingrid knew Sylvain and all his antics. They loved him, yes, but loving someone didn’t mean they couldn’t get on your nerves every now and then. 

Byleth, on the contrary, found herself smiling and looking for her phone. She didn’t have a picture of Edelgard, not even her contact information. She didn’t need them, however, as she typed in Edelgard’s name and the University she worked for and pulled up a website with the scholars information where there was a picture of her as well as a brief description of her research.

The website had been visited so many times before her browser offered to pin it to her bookmarks.

She ignored it once more, handing the device to Sylvain who whistled when looking at it, Ingrid beside him looking over his shoulder.

“Nice catch!” The approbatory tone of his voice couldn’t be masked and Byleth knew Ingrid was doing their best to keep from pushing their friend away. “So, when is she back?”

“In a couple of weeks.” Byleth wasn’t about to ask how he knew Edelgard wasn’t around, she supposed her friends had been talking about it without her knowledge. She didn’t mind. She cared and trusted them enough to be sure they just wanted the best for her life.

Was Edelgard the best for her life?

A dull ache in her chest seemed to think so.

“So, where are you taking her to celebrate when she’s back?” He asked, returning the phone and leaning back, crossing his arms.

“What do you mean?” Byleth looked at Eldegard’s picture once more before locking her phone.

“You like her, and you just see each other here in the coffee shop? With Ingrid and Annie around?” He avoided the light jab Ingrid threw at him. “You must want to take her out on a date, right? A walk in the park? A night out in a bar? A fishing trip?” Sylvain eyebrows raised higher and higher with each iteration. Ingrid, next to him, nodded despite themselves.

Like her? Yes, she liked Edelgard.

Taking her on a fishing trip, outside of the coffee shop and into the world where she could just discover new things about her to love and admire?

Byleth looked dumbfounded for a second.

Sylvain read her expression as an open book, the first time since they had known each other for years. He groaned.

For someone who was so brilliant, she surely was naive about herself.

Ingrid and Sylvain looked at each other and shrugged, even if their faces told the story of their disbelief.

Maybe, just maybe, Edelgard would take Byleth out of that state she was usually in.

////

Sitting next to Felix meant two things she cherished. Quietness and company.

The man drank his coffee at his own rhythm, taking measured sips and reading through books in a never-ending cycle. It was his routine and Byleth believed he liked her company, despite his sharp words every now and then when disturbed out of the blue.

She could compose a song based only on the sound of her keyboard when typing and the ripple of the pages as he turned them. It was a soft melody, the shiest insinuation of music laying underneath each of those little actions, but she could listen to it. She heard it and could translate it into paper and the sounds that would be unequivocally bound to these quiet afternoons shared with a friend whose silence was open and warm.

Shared with somebody who didn’t need words to speak his truth.

This afternoon, however, a different noise was mixed into the unwritten music that was their silence, disrupting it. Byleth looked at her phone, buzzing, and saw yet another text from Sothis. The woman had been talkative that day. It was common for her to inquire about her life and her work and family after a prolonged silence. Sothis could forget how time passed and worked for the rest of the mortals, stating that weeks were lost amidst her extravagant routine.

And now she was texting Byleth to get all the details about the weeks she had been silent.

That meant that she had lost all her development with Edelgard.

Byleth typed an answer to the question that was prone to appear on her screen and locked it again, just for it to turn into life again buzzing a couple of seconds later. Her hand was quick to fetch the device and start typing an answer when Felix closed his book with a loud snap. She looked at him, at his displeased expression and knew exactly what bothered him.

Oh, well, she could write music about that as well.

“What’s going on?” Felix grabbed his coffee and had a rather big sip from it. So he was aggravated but yet trying to remain rational. Byleth put her phone in her pocket and looked at him, pushing her computer slightly away.

“Sothis has reappeared after her long slumber,” she said. Felix knew of her old friend, and his displeased pout was enough to tell her he understood.

“Are you telling her about the woman you’ve been seeing?” He left the cup and took his book, thumbing the pages absently. His hazel eyes, sharp and alert, were fixed on hers.

Byleth thought about it for a second. She could deny it and tell him that wasn’t quite the case. She had talked about her brother and father too, about her new projects and her fishing trips. Nothing too fancy, her weekly routine she tried to stick to. Yet, almost everything she had said was about Edelgard, yes. About how she missed her talks, about how she liked the way her hair curved when tied up, about how she had made her work easier by inspiring music she didn’t know she had in her heart.

Her face was blank, her expression neutral, but her chest was hammered by her heart.

She was screwed, she knew it.

Byleth realized she was eager to find more about these new feelings rather than scared of what the future would hold for her. Her father had said she was a bit reckless, yes. Her brother had told her she tended to move forward despite the possible outcomes. She supposed love wasn’t a different affair then; it surprised her as the mystery around that untamable, undescribed feeling was little by little revealed to her. It surprised her that it was so different to anything she had experienced and yet her reaction was similar to any other challenge she had encountered before.

Felix looked at her.

Right, he was waiting for an answer.

“Yes. I was.”

“Good. Do it quickly and get it over with. You haven’t been able to work this much for a while.” He opened the book where he had left it, but his eyes remained on hers. “You have also improved in our spars as of late.” 

Byleth cocked one of her eyebrows. That was true, she had found it easier to focus after her talk with Sylvain. Her emotions were a rocky ocean to navigate, a never-ending storm that she wasn’t sure how to weather. The simple talk she had had with her friend had been enough for her to say something out loud once and change her perspective enormously.

She liked Edelgard.

And with that a waterfall of realizations hit her hard enough that she found herself diving into work and writing music just to process them.

She liked Edelgard as in, she thought she could love her romantically.

It had been before her all of those weeks and she had refused to look at it. Byleth was amused but not ashamed, life worked in complicated ways and she had assumed that long ago.

“Thanks.” And with that Felix nodded and went back to his book. Byleth looked at him once more, silent gratitude feeling their newfound silence, and then looked at her phone and the last messages she had exchanged with Sothis.

_ “I think I want to write music for her.” _

_ “Then write it, what are you waiting for?” _

_ “Should I show it to her once it’s finished?” _

_ “Since when are you so afraid? Do as you feel like it, carve your own path and be sure to never regret the things you didn’t do afraid of being too bold. It doesn’t suit you.” _

Byleth looked at the phone and then at Felix, who was back again reading his book with an inscrutable expression. A warm smile adorned her lips as she typed quickly before muting her phone and diving into her work again, with new ideas and new feelings to explore through her art.

_ “Thank you.” _

That was the only message she had for them.

////

Her notebook was closed and it would remain like that for that afternoon. Or at least until Dorothea and Ingrid were gone for the day and far away from her table and her company.

Byleth liked their company, they made her feel human.

She couldn’t help but smile when she saw the lovestruck look they had for each other. Even in their banter and teasing she could almost touch the love that had been forged and cemented between them. Ingrid looked as if they were alongside a goddess that had granted them the grace of their presence. In a way, Byleth suspected they were.

She wondered if she looked somewhat different when she was around Edelgard. She knew better than to ask Dorothea, however. The woman would be able to make a mountain blush only with her wits and her silver tongue.

“Edie sent me some pictures yesterday, mostly of the landscape and rocks…” Dorothea’s puff was enough to show her disbelief. “Rocks, I love Edie so much but she surely is a single-minded, focused one…” Ingrid grabbed her hand and squeezed gently, bringing her back to reality. “In any case, I asked her to write to Hubie already.”

That perked Byleth’s interest, her senses alert at the sound of a name she didn’t know.

“Hubie?”

“Hubert, Edie must have talked about him, right?” Dorothea waved widely to show her mental image of the man. “He’s a friend of ours and occasionally works with her.”

“Oh.” Yes, Edelgard had talked about this man. Her childhood friend and one of her closest companions. She had said that she trusted him, her voice had been fond and warm when she talked about him.

Something bitter and cold found a niche in Byleth’s stomach.

“He’s been insufferable lately, seems like Edie hasn’t talked to any of us that much.” Dorothea supported her chin in her fist, a displeased pout that Ingrid watched with a cocked eyebrow. There was a trace of surprise in their face, but Byleth failed to see it. She could only hear Dorothea’s words and a small voice in her head starting to form words that were hard to believe.

What if you read the situation wrong?

What if Edelgard’s been nice to you just because she’s a nice person?

What if you’ve been imagining things and worlds where there’s no foundation for them?

Her stomach churned in an uncomfortable feeling. Byleth didn’t understand this and didn’t like it. Why was she feeling so down all of a sudden? Why was her throat closed and her tongue bitter and her mood sour? Why was she in need to see Edelgard and ask her about her relationships?

Edelgard was free to do as she pleased, Edelgard was her own person and Byleth had been lucky enough to know her and bask in her presence.

Dorothea watched her silent expressions, her blue eyes lost in the landscape of her troubled mind, and a pitiful smile was born in her lips. Ingrid elbowed her and raised both eyebrows. Dorothea winked at them and she was rewarded with green eyes rolling at her, but a furious blush still on their cheeks.

A silent conversation in which Dorothea ensured her lover she knew what she was doing.

Was it wrong to have a little fun? More so, was it wrong to test this woman that seemed so unreadable and try to find her true feelings toward her friend?

She thought not.

“Oh, Byleth, Edie asked me to tell you she misses you and she’s doing fine.” Blue eyes snapped at her and Dorothea could read them clearly for a second. Her smile was a fond one once she deciphered what was there for the world to see. “She’ll be coming back soon, I sure want to hug her, it’s been a while and I miss my little nerd friend around.”

“Yes…” Byleth felt relief blooming in her chest, and yet certain remorse at her own reaction just a moment ago.

What had just happened?

“I’m sure she wants to see you too.” Ingrid reassured, patting Byleth’s forearm and getting her back to their table. “She’ll be back soon and we’ll have bergamot tea for her.”

“Yeah, she’d like that. Right?”

“Of course she will! And more so the company!” Dorothea winked again, now leading toward Ingrid and changing the topic to their last BMX competition. Byleth listened to it politely, learning new things she had missed about her friend and their passion.

In the back of her mind, however, she continued to ask herself what she had felt, why she had reacted that way.

Why had she felt so possessive when a person was never to be owned.

The silent, yet huge countdown for her return started to run as well.

Edelgard would be back in a week or so, and Byleth couldn’t be happier.

In a week or so. She had some thinking to do, but for now she could listen to her friends and feel like a normal human being.

Like a foolish human in love.

####  **VIII.**

Byleth had an unusual spring to her steps when she entered the coffee shop that day and asked for her usual strong coffee. Annette was there, as every early Friday. She smiled when she handled Byleth her order, a silent question in her raised eyebrows that Byleth simply shrugged off, following her daily routine.

It’d be strange for some people how task-oriented she was and how methodically she followed a routine. Some would think it was a strength of hers, some would think it was a weakness; for her it was her way of moving forward. She had found out that routines were easy for her, she was constant and had learned to stick to certain actions that gave her life a strong sense of direction.

Writing music.

Calling her family every three or four days.

Sticking to an exercise routine.

She’d taken to wandering around the city and into the wild near Enbarr on weekends, fishing, trekking, just letting herself get lost there. Byleth had learned that it helped her keep focus, getting lost was a way to find herself and keep in touch with what made her music hers.

And then her routine had changed the sightless when Edelgard had entered her life.

She let her backpack on her table and her coffee as well, not really starting her day. The sun of Enbarr in summer was unforgiving, not as much as in Brigid where she had spent a year just looking at the ocean with her brother, mulling over their father’s accident and trying to get him back again on his feet. She had made some fame that year; it was intriguing how people could relate to her sadness despite not knowing her at all, yet they did. All of her samples that year had been successes and had landed her there, in Enbarr, little Remire behind, Brigid and its sunny, scorching coast lines behind.

Her father’s smile behind alongside her brother.

Byleth blinked, coming back to her own skin and feeling again the waves of excitement rising through her throat and chest.

Edelgard had come into her life uninvited but not unwelcome. She had changed her routine little by little, unnoticed by her first. It had been so subtle that she just truly realized how much of an impact the woman had had in her life when she wasn’t around anymore, when she was gone for weeks and her days had lost some of the luster that she had brought to them with her presence, her light brown hair, her lilac eyes.

She could see the hot day outside, her own black t-shirt tainted by her skin that would sweat under the summer days that were ahead of them. She took a sip of her coffee, cold for the occasion, and decided that none of that was important.

Edelgard was returning to their routine today, or so she had been told. Byleth was too excited to even pretend she’d work that day. She had made enough progress as to afford an extra day off, and if she hadn’t she would’ve taken it anyway.

Edelgard was back, and it filled her with a mix of strong feelings she hadn’t experienced in a really long time. It wasn’t the calm, assertive nature she had been used to in those last years of her life, when no strong emotions had ever reached her, no more than a fluke or a single breeze that removed her heart, barely grazing it. Her dedication to her work, her training, the hours slowly passing by as she honed her skills to the maximum, every day peeling a layer away to get in closer touch to her own sensitivity.

Maybe that was the key she had been missing, the getting to know herself before letting anybody know her. Maybe she was overthinking it, being paranoid regarding her little social skills.

The bell at the door chimed and her head snapped, her eyes looking for Edelgard, not even conscious of what she had done.

And, to her joy, she was there, smiling and walking toward her.

Her heart shrunk and twisted inside her.

She was sure something wrong had just happened in her chest, she had lost her voice and her mind seemed to stop running, all her ideas moving slow, all her words gone.

Edelgard’s lilac eyes were even more beautiful now that her skin was sun-kissed, a new gloss to her irises, strides that oozed confidence with every step. She got to her feet quickly, pushing the table in the process and almost knocking her mug still full with coffee. She looked at the disaster she almost made, sheepishly, before returning her eyes to her friend and forgetting about it all.

Her smile was so wide she didn’t realize Edelgard had blushed too, her hands behind her back and her head tilted forwards just slightly, guiding each step with a grin.

“Hey!” Byleth said; remembering she had hands and a voice, she fumbled a bit to extend it to shake her hand, but Edelgard just smiled a bit more and wrapped her arms around her, engulfing her in a shy hug. She was so much smaller in her arms, her frame thinner than hers, her arms easily resting on her shoulders, before she let go of any coherent, cohesive thought and just reciprocated the hug, letting it be the one to speak for both of them. Letting all their words, and greetings and emotions be shared wordlessly, silently, just the hammering of her heart in her ribcage giving away how much it meant to her and how little she expected to be surprised like that.

If Byleth hadn’t been so enraptured by Edelgard, warm and soft in her arms, the summer sun lingering in her skin, she’d have noticed how Edelgard’s heart throbbed in her chest as well, her heart rate up to the sky and her face hidden against her shoulders, just enjoying being there and letting herself go for a second.

It was Edelgard the one that pulled away, the one that remembered they were in a public space and that knew exactly how long a friendly hug could be without turning suspicious in normal conditions, as that one.

“Good afternoon, Byleth,” she said, in a voice that betrayed all the emotions that those simple words were able to convey. “I…” She bit her lower lip, her hands fidgeting nervously as her eyes remained in her fingers. “I missed you, it’s good to be back.” She mustered, good enough to start a conversation.

Not exactly how she planned to greet her.

Byleth smiled, gesturing the table with her left arm, inviting her to sit down and just keep themselves in their own private dimension, the space that seemed to just exist whenever the two of them got together. Edelgard complied, deeply breathing in the smell of coffee that she had come to link to the blue-haired woman. She was very aware of how much she had to fight back the wish to hide part of her face behind her right hand, her urge to grab Byleth’s fingers with her left hand, the need to look at her lovingly and tell her how beautiful she looked that day.

She had to keep it together and cool, on a summer day.

She hoped the goddess, if she was really out there, was looking out for her with a gentle eye.

If she had known the true nature of the one called Seiros, considered a goddess among men, she would’ve laughed just by the thought of the celestial woman smacking her hard and telling her to get it together.

“Did you have fun?” Byleth had no reservations in looking at her as if there wasn't anything else in the world. In a way there wasn't. Byleth had completely given herself to that dimension and just Edelgard existed there, in the space where her music and her emotions lived, the universe she had worked so hard to know and that had kept itself sealed away from her for so long.

Not for that much longer now.

“Yes, I thought it was obvious by the videos and pictures I sent…”

“Well, the rocks did look… different.” Byleth had a lopsided smile, the first one Edelgard could remember on her, resting her chin on her thumb and index, her left hand in a loose fist. She wasn’t tapping or diverting her attention, she wasn’t playing with her pen as part of her mind kept running ideas in the background, as if she was unable to turn her creative drive off completely.

Suddenly, Edelgard realized she had all of Byleth’s undivided attention.

The fire in her stomach grew stronger and got hold of her throat.

She smiled and tilted forward. She was forged by fire, created by the scorching heat of those summers and the unforgiving sun that would tear apart mountains and rivers, diminishing lakes to simple puddles, just mud under its indifferent stare. She could take the flames in her throat holding her voice prisoner.

What she wasn’t sure was if she could take those blue indigo eyes that were so intense on hers.

“Oh, shut up.” She joked. “I guess you won’t like my gift, then.”

“You got me a gift from your trip?”

“I said I would, didn’t I?” Edelgard looked inside her purse perched on her chair. Byleth didn’t change her posture, her stare on Edelgard’s neck, completely bare and exposed to her by the way she was turned to go through her belongings, sideways. From there she could see a vein was just barely marked alongside the muscle that ran through there, her collarbone an insinuation visible in the hem of the neck of her transparent shawl.

She could see a small drop of sweat making its way with no rush till it was lost under the fabric that kept her body concealed from the rest of the world.

A few brown strands of hair that had escaped her hairdo and just rested there, enticing her eyes with splashes of color that gave away more than it should.

That made her mind burst with possibilities and ideas.

She grabbed her cup of coffee and drank a long sip; she decided that the immediate relief of something cold in her belly was worth the exhilaration caffeine would give her later.

It would also keep the groan that wanted to leave her lips at bay.

“Here it is…” Edelgard had something on her hands, rounded and hidden behind her fingers. “I told you I would get you a volcanic stone…” She joked, extending the small pumice filled with holes and rough all over. Byleth smiled, taking it with her right hand, now her head tilted as she examined it.

“I thank you, then,” she said, bowing as much as she could while still seated at the table. “For your kindness, for having me in your thoughts despite all your important tasks.”

“Byleth, flowery language doesn’t quite fit you.” Edelgard smiled, her tongue going over her lips in a quick manner before tilting forward. “Do you like it?” Her hands were grabbing the sides of the table just a bit tighter than it was necessary, just a little bit too much in expectation.

“Well, yes. It’s actually quite interesting and light…” Byleth weighted it on her hand, before just throwing it and catching it midair. “And rough, this will take away my calluses if I’m not careful.”

“We wouldn’t want that, right?” Edelgard was smiling harder, but she hadn’t realized. She had one more surprise she wanted to give Byleth and needed to build the set-up just right.

Not that she was great at surprises or gifts, but Dorothea had told her before that she always tried and it made them special. Even if she was afraid to give them.

Even if she was ashamed of giving them.

The thought behind them made her gifts special, or so she wanted to believe.

“Of course not, it’d be harder to grab a wooden sword or the fishline if I lost them… my father did make me practice for hours so I could have them. It’s a family thing, my brother has them too, did I tell you?” Byleth caught the stone midair once more, smiling enough for her ears to move as they used to, before letting it next to her backpack. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t keep throwing and playing with it around in a coffee shop filled with pottery and glasses and windows.

Annette or Ingrid wouldn’t be happy to clean that mess up.

“Maybe it wasn’t the right gift for you, then.” Edelgard didn’t have time to go again for her purse, her hands suddenly covered by Byleth’s. The musician looked at her with intent and fire in her eyes, enough to make Edelgard's throat go dry again and her stomach flip with no consent whatsoever. When the seconds lengthened between them in silence, she ventured to call her name in a question.

“Sorry, I just…” Byleth let her go, her fingers back to the pumice stone. “I don’t want you to feel like you had to bring me something, I’m just happy you’re around again…”

Those words were small, small for someone who was used to speaking truths in a calm tone, for someone who told her with a straight face she was the composer of one of her favorite songs, for someone who seems the kind that would never waver, never relent.

So small that Edelgard needed a second to understand them.

“Hey, it’s ok. I brought you a gift because I thought it’d fit you…” She breathed in, needing the extra air to push through her doubts and insecurities. “And my gift was always thought of with this second piece…” She reassured, her eyes trying to convey a calm she didn’t feel but she was a master in faking. Byleth nodded, her hands still around the pumice stone, her eyebrows slightly raised, her mouth now in a little grin.

“If you’re sure…”

“Of course I am, I wanted to do this.” She searched her purse a bit more forcefully than she planned to, but she found the second object quickly as it was bigger and easier to find among her personal things. “Here, happy something… I’m sure I’ve missed a birthday or an important date since I've known you.”

Byleth took the object wrapped in thin, white foil paper and unwrapped it with patience. Her wide blue eyes fixed in the task at hand, unaware of how Edelgard rested her chin on both of her fists, excitement barely contained in a subtle tremble of her shoulders. She peeled away each layer, till she saw the black gleam of a smooth surface. Her fingers were careful as she finished unwrapping and taking the stone in her hands. She turned it over easily, her hands used to handle objects that fit her palm before.

It was black and shiny, a smooth surface that ended in a pointy end and a sharp edge that curved by itself. It wasn’t carved, it had been created in the depth of the bowels of a volcano, burst into the world to be shaped into something that was beautiful and dangerous, something that was precious and looked for.

Her fingertips ghosted over the edge, sensing how sharp and irregular it was, how the primal beauty of the volcanic glass hadn’t been tailored or shaped into something different.

“I love it.” She whispered, taking it with reverence now in both her hands, using the foil paper as an extra layer to protect her bare skin from the sharp stone edge.

“I know it isn’t conventional, and maybe you’d preferred for me to get you more pumice stones…” She joked, pointing to the little gift that now rested by Byleth’s elbow with both her indexes. “But I thought you’d like the obsidian, too… I happened upon it one of the first days out there, not really looking for it. I’m surprised I could take it all the way back to Enbarr so easily…” Edelgard stopped, wondering how much she could say without revealing too much. How could she explain that she’d thought of her friend and the object of her affections when she saw the perfect, natural sharp edge of the volcanic glass, the deep and yet simple color of its black surface, the beauty that reflected in it, smooth and shiny.

How she saw her reflection the same way she did in Byleth’s eyes.

She couldn’t just blurt all of that out, it wouldn’t be fitting.

She wasn’t sure she was willing to accept it even to herself yet.

So she swallowed, looking for words that felt safe and yet inviting, a strange mix of her own interests and how Byleth’s image had come through them. “I thought you’d like it, since you like training, swords, and well… weapons in general.” She licked her lips; her mouth was dry, she should’ve ordered something to drink first. “It reminds me a little of you as well, wild, sharp, unique…”

The silence that followed was different than any other they had shared before.

Byleth looked at the volcanic glass again, her reflection had a wide, content smile. Yet she believed it wasn't enough as to show the true extent of her happiness. Byleth leaned back on her chair, her hands at the edge of it, pushing her chair away as if she was to take to her feet, but she kept there, her gift in one of her hands, her feet unsure but twitching and tickling, her muscles screaming for her to use them. She wanted to hug her, she wanted to run away and scream something that made no sense.

She wanted to kiss her.

And the thought of kissing Edelgard in the middle of summer was enough as to make her stop and rewind her own thinking process.

Kiss Edelgard, under the open sky of Enbarr.

She realized she wanted to, she wanted to so badly it was dangerous.

Byleth kept the volcanic glass close to her heart, Edelgard looking at her with a question in her face.

“Uh… Let me get you something, I’ll grab some tea for you, yes? I think I know the one you like…” Byleth staggered a little, unsure and unused to the nervous feeling in her gut. Edelgard looked at her, both eyebrows raised, a smile blossoming slowly and steady as her whole face opened in happiness.

“Of course, but there’s something else you can do for me. If you will…”

“Yes?”

“I’d love it for you to call me El, my family used to call me that and… it’d mean a lot to me,” she said, her voice suddenly shy, her hands fidgeting with her fingers and her eyes refusing to meet hers. Byleth felt how her own chest, unruled and untamed, calmed by seeing her struggling.

She smiled, a gentle smile, and let the warmth of the day and the action finally get a complete hold on her, making her tingle from her temples to her fingertips.

She tilted her head slightly when she, in a soft voice, complied.

“I’d love to, El. Thank you.”

####  **IX.**

Summer had its perks, she thought as Byleth reclined, both elbows relaxed in the edge of her chair, her stare lost through the window. The scorching heat of the driest season had made the woman let go of her grey coat for the first time.

It was a gift.

And Edelgard rejoiced in it.

Byleth favored rather tight shirts that embraced her body perfectly. And her body was something to behold, Edelgard thought, her blood running hotter than when she was outside under the relentless sun of Enbarr.

Yet there was something else that made her expression awestruck.

Byleth was smiling, soft, small, satisfied. She had done so since their last meeting, when she had presented her with a gift that in the moment Edelgard had thought it was too personal and that Byleth had treasured with unspoken words but meaningful stares.

She took a sip of her peach cold tea, helpless around her, unable to tear her eyes from her relaxed yet muscular forearms, her strong shoulders, a well pronounced and defined collarbone, her indigo eyes that seem to bloom and glow by their own when the rich blue sky was reflected on them. She caught a sigh in her lips before it was born with no permission. How pitiful, to almost be betrayed by her own body.

Another sip would keep her mouth entertained in less risky activities.

“You didn’t get to see me before that deadline…” Byleth said out of nowhere, her head still facing the window but her right eye on her, a curious gloss there that Edelgard wasn’t sure she had seen before.

“I sadly missed the spectacle. Ingrid did tell me you ran through three notebooks and knocked your laptop from the table to the floor…” She waited a moment, looking for a reaction from Byleth, her smile seemed to grow larger still. “I don’t believe you can be clumsy, to be honest. It doesn’t seem to fit your personality.”

“Oh, it happens every now and then. My dad used to say all my clumsiness had to escape somehow at once, my brother couldn’t just have it all for the both of us…” Byleth was now facing her, her lazy smile was still there, her blue eyes wide and intense.

Edelgard smiled and swallowed, unsure how she could survive that stare for the rest of the afternoon but very willing to try it.

“Did you like what you composed?” Edelgard leaned in, both hands supporting her chin, her lopsided ponytail exposing her neck and letting her fair skin exposed to the gentle artificial breeze the air conditioner created in the room.

“It was good, not the best, but good enough,” she said, shrugging it off, as if she wasn’t one of the greatest musicians for Edelgard, as if she hadn’t composed music that had stuck with people forever. Living a simple life in an era that was far more complicated that it should.

“I’ll have to judge that myself once I can.” Edelgard pointed out, shifting her weight in the chair. She knew she wouldn’t be able to listen to anything that Byleth had created for a while, her contract requested her to keep all pieces from being shared among the public until official announcement.

She wondered if she’d have had the chance to listen to just small pieces if she had been around when Byleth was working on them.

Byleth hummed, not really convinced and set both of her hands on the table, her fingers again tapping and following a pattern without missing a beat. Edelgard raised an eyebrow. That was new, and alongside her feet fiddling she realized this was a new emotion she hadn’t had the chance to see before.

Byleth was nervous, really nervous. More than when she had let her see her doodles, more than when she had gushed over her music and she had blushed.

More than when she had received her gift and her eyes had opened up, a river of stars, a galaxy contained in her pupils playing with the light in a way that made the universe a pale comparison to the beauty in the indigo of her glare.

Edelgard raised both eyebrows now, waiting for Byleth to stop her tapping and come forward to tell her what had thrown her into such a state out of the blue.

The older woman played with her hands a bit longer, before rocking in her chair and picking up a pattern with her feet. Her eyes went from her hands, to the window, to Edelgard’s drink.

She avoided her lilac eyes as if they were the very sign of danger that would curse her forever.

Something woke in Edelgard, something that despite all of her better judgment, couldn’t help but spark hope in her.

_ You know better, El, yet you hope for the impossible sometimes… _

“Byleth,” she called, when she realized the woman wasn’t going to talk to her anytime soon. Her blue eyes gazed upon hers, and she found that it was difficult to find the words to follow. She forced herself, nonetheless. “What is it?”

“El…”

Her nickname sounded like a blessing in her voice, in her tone sometimes a bit raspy, rough around the edges, adorned by emotions she couldn’t tell apart easily but wished to.

“Yes?”

“I composed something for you.” And her smile now was sheepish.

“You did…?”

“Yes. You said you liked my music, and you liked volcanoes. It gave me an idea and I just followed it.” She looked in her backpack, fumbling through countless little things before pushing a small pendrive to her, offering the small device with the gift within it as if it wasn’t the most precious piece she could’ve ever created for her.

As if she hadn’t just admitted she meant something for her.

Something more than just the nice stranger you used to meet in a coffee shop and talk to about the weather for five minutes before running to your next errand, before going back to your normal life without a second thought. She knew Byleth was so much more for her than that, and she suspected she was a big presence in Byleth’s life, but still.

Still.

Edelgard took it, her fist clenched around it.

She was someone in Byleth’s life, she realized. Someone she spent time thinking about, someone she made time for in her daily routine.

Her heart threatened to expand and drown her, while she fought to find a word, a sentence, a gesture to match what the woman had just done.

Her indigo eyes looked at her, wide and curious and afraid.

She was someone in Byleth’s life.

She could be that someone in her life.

Her heart soared at the thought.

“I… I think it’s good, but I’ll let you decide that,” she said, still tilting forward, her hands back on the table tapping ceaselessly as her own feelings and emotions spiraled in her chest, a wave that grew as the never-ending roaring of the earth opening up and telling her the truth her mind didn’t want to accept.

It didn’t matter, she could lie to herself and turn a blind eye to it, but the truth was still under her nose whether she wanted to accept it or not.

“I… Byleth… I don’t think anything you create can be bad or mediocre…” She bit her lower lip, the little device in her right hand burning her skin, mocking her. She was so helpless when she was with her, so completely lost and subjugated to the only thing in her life she didn’t plan for, the only thing she didn’t prepare for.

The only thing she didn’t know she deserved, but she wished for still.

“I… you can hear it now, if you want, I have my laptop here.” Byleth’s hand ghosted over her backpack, the one she hadn’t bothered opening since she arrived and found Edelgard there, waiting for her with a lazy smile and a questioning eyebrow.

“If that’s ok by you...” Of course she wanted to hear it, she wanted to listen to it and let herself get lost in the music that awaited her, the very essence of the way Byleth perceived her, no words or filters or even second guessing to stop it and change it. She wanted to listen to it in a loop, drawn by the idea, the possibility, every color shade she could find there.

She didn’t say any of it, just smiled at Byleth and extended her left hand, grabbing her right fingers in a gentle yet firm hold, nodding at her with understanding and the silent, unspoken truth that if she needed her to listen to it away from her, she would.

Edelgard had almost combusted when giving Byleth her gift. She had been so shy and at the same time excited, so afraid and so impatient.

She knew the feeling now, she had felt so vulnerable, so fragile, so human and soft, so easy to hurt her and shatter her.

Byleth had done none of those things, she’d smiled and held her gift, she had thanked her with a new luster in her eyes, with a veil that had been dropped and the meaning was there for her to take. Byleth had given her solace when she had offered herself raw and soft and absolutely open to her.

She’d do the very same at least.

Byleth squeezed her hand, not letting go of her as she fumbled to get her backpack open and take out the laptop, opening with a practiced gesture the device and typing her password quickly.

She never let go of her hand, she never looked for her eyes, shunning away from them.

Her strong muscles trembled as she completed all of those every day actions, the little details that composed her routine that she usually paid no mind to. Those little details that now separated them from reaching a new understanding, a depth in their relationship that could never be changed, a different stage, new and unexplored.

And so wished for.

Byleth squeezed her hand once more before letting go, retrieving her headphones and letting her put them on before hitting play.

She stopped herself, looking for her eyes as she breathed in deep and slow, her trembling barely visible in her shoulders usually so strong and sure, the silhouette she used to image at night, at day, in the spaces in between her routine where she’d just appear with a smile and her eyes as blue as the summer sky. Edelgard smiled, a lovestruck smile, and nodded once more.

Byleth smiled in response, a tiny shy smile so insecure and unsure and unusual for her, and hit play.

And then there wasn’t anything else but the excitement and the anticipation in her chest, the invisible countdown reaching its final second and letting her dive into an emotion she couldn’t control and wouldn’t really be able to explain but she felt still.

Edelgard, days later, alone in her apartment, with a mug of coffee in her hand and her eyes lost through a window that was kind enough as to show her the street below her, would admit to herself she was in love, and she didn’t want to fall out of it.

She would admit to herself she wanted to give Byleth everything she wanted from her and she’d take anything she would offer her.

It was a piano, warm and rising as its notes gained confidence and its breathing rose and fell, a wave that little by little, with an inexhaustible internal force, threatened to drown everything, to take her consciousness and drag her away. Plunge her into its eternal tide, water that behaved like fire as it rose and breathed and did not rest.

It never rested.

And when she believed that the piano would consume everything, in an intense whirlpool and a symphony of warm notes that followed one after another quickly and precisely, a perfect storm from which she didn’t want to find an exit from, a guitar, simple, precise, soft, appeared to quench that thirst for eternal strength in the harmony of the piano. A guitar that was supported by its own weight and made a counterpoint, answering its questions with simple answers. Leading it back to a calmer pace, to a coherent conversation.

Hand in hand, note by note, step by step.

United in a warmth that escaped the description of her academic language, but that spoke directly to a sensitivity that she had never trained and that now, in that moment of solitude where there was only the music and Byleth’s warm hand that she had taken at some point, that sensitivity cried without understanding why or how.

But it understood that something was sung to her that resonated within, without rest, without haste, without any mistake.

A simple guitar and a piano.

That was all Byleth needed to tell her in three minutes: everything that Edelgard meant to her, everything that was to her.

All the unknowns that she still kept and that she was waiting for, step by step, note by note, to find and understand, until she could compose infinite songs that told her in music what in words she couldn’t convey sometimes, as vocabulary seemed to be just scarce.

A piano like any other, a nylon string guitar.

And Byleth's frightened smile as she watched her take off her headphones, a silent question in her blue eyes, a hope in the hand that held hers and squeezed her fingers gently.

Edelgard opened her mouth, but couldn’t muster a sound.

She was speechless, and she’d be for a while.

“Did you like it?” She asked when she couldn’t wait any longer, Edelgard still going through her emotions trying to get them in place and calm herself enough to speak without her voice breaking. She cleared her throat and nodded.

How could she think she wouldn't like it?

There was no force in the universe that would keep Edelgard from loving what Byleth had done for her, created for her.

From loving Byleth for what she meant to her.

“I do… I’m… I don’t know what to say.”

“A ‘thank you’ is enough for me, El.” And she smiled.

A beautiful smile that made the summer sky of Enbarr pale in comparison.

Edelgard wished for that smile to be in her life till the very end.

She was so in love she didn’t bother to question herself any longer.

####  **X.**

The sun had already set, the coffee shop had turned on the lights and the hour was late, for the afternoon was long in a summer of short nights. They were to close soon and most of the diners had already left.

Most of them.

Ingrid and Annie looked at the only two clients left and exchanged knowing glances.

They knew what it meant and how it felt to be newly in love.

Annie started to clean behind the counter, collecting all the spare pieces the day had left behind and storing them for the next busy day. Ingrid left to the kitchen, feeling as if they were interrupting some intimate moment they had no right to look into.

“So your family is in Brigid?” Edelgard had forgotten her cup of tea, her plate still had crumbs of the lemon cake she had asked for and her smile was bright and yet somewhat lazy. Byleth was absolutely lost in that smile, telling her the secrets of her family with no second thoughts.

“Yeah, the weather is better for my dad since his accident. My brother likes it there and he keeps a fishing business and a swordsmanship gym.” Byleth scratched her forearm, the scorching heat of the afternoon finally turning into a heavy, wet warmth she could tolerate better. “I usually go once a year, in winter when Enbarr gets colder than usual.” 

“You could work from there if you wanted, right?” Edelgard preferred summer over winter, and more so if it meant that Byleth would be around her in the city she called home.

“I could, the sun is a bit too harsh and my ideas get overheated though, my father says…” She looked at the three mugs of coffee she had in front of her and the little plates with all the pastries she had been eating through the day. It had been a productive working day nonetheless, she had reviewed the last pieces she was due to send by the end of the next week and made necessary arrangements for them to be acceptable.

At least her acceptable, which used to be received as great by her employers.

“I wouldn’t imagine you as somebody that can’t manage themselves in any kind of weather.” Edelgard leaned forward, her knuckles barely supporting her head, her lilac eyes burning teal ones. Byleth felt like talking was harder than usual.

She had to push still, for the goal she looked for was at the other end of the gap that only words could breach her through.

“Oh, that’s because we only see each other here.” Byleth leaned back in her chair. She could do this, she told herself, despite her heart hammering her chest as it had never done before and her hands trembling where they were joined behind her head. “We’re coffee buddies, aren’t we?” Her tone was light, her words soft.

Their meaning was so much heavier and her intentions easier to see for those who had been around them long enough.

Edelgard, however, feared to soar in the wind of her words as the fall would be a cruel one if she was to get her wings clipped.

“I suppose we are, yes.” She was tentative with her words, keeping her desire close to her heart. Or as close as she could after she had already given Byleth so much.

Annette, from the counter, looked at them and sighed, retreating to the kitchen looking for Ingrid to leave them alone for ten minutes or so before they would need to get them out of the shop.

Ten minutes should be enough, even for those two.

“I’d like for us to be more than that,” Byleth said, fetching her phone and opening her agenda there. “Would you give me your phone number?”

“Well, of course! We should’ve done this long ago to be honest…” Edelgard took the device and started to type her number and name. “I’ll get yours in a second!”

Byleth smiled, watching the woman and taking her in as a whole, her hair tied up in a tight knot, her blouse a blessing in her body, her purse perched from the chair as she liked to leave it. Her lilac eyes shining in multiple colors under the lights of the coffee shop that had hosted their blossoming relationship day in and day out. Her heart harbored feelings she had never felt before, and yet she was not scared to reach out for more.

“And I’d love for you to come with me one of these days out for a fishing trip, or a walk in the park, or anything you’d like…” Byleth tilted forward, her blue eyes wide, expecting, hopeful. Edelgard’s head snapped, looking at her with a smile she couldn’t control and she wasn’t aware she sported. “Would you, El?”

“I… I’d love to, Byleth.” And as simple as that, Byleth leaned forward a bit more and grabbed the device that rested in her hands and intertwined their fingers. Edelgard swallowed when she realized how close she was. Her wild hair was an invitation and her soft smile a declaration.

Edelgard wanted to kiss her. Any other thought was erased from her mind in a second, just by watching her indigo eyes and feeling the warmth of her large hands.

Edelgard wanted to kiss her, whatever would come next could come full force and she’d be okay with that. As long as she had Byleth for herself for a couple of seconds she’d go back again to the crater of an active volcano to collect samples in a bucket, she’d be back listening to her uncle talking about family and duty when he was just an outsider that would never be part of her family and her close ones, she’d be back each day in this coffee shop to see Byleth again.

Just to kiss her and explore in that touch all the emotions her chest couldn’t control and were born from her heart, as a waterfall that would make her soar through the impossible blue sky.

Edelgard closed her eyes, a sigh in her lips and yearning clinging to her soul.

If Byleth would kiss her, she’d be back each time for the rest of this summer that smelled as the ocean breeze and the flowers that spring had gifted them not long ago.

“I think we should go…” Byleth straightened up, looking around and realizing they were alone in the coffee shop, the sun long gone and the street outside basking under the streetlights and the passersby that hurried their way back home. Edelgard craned her head glancing around and nodded, a small tingle of disappointment in her tongue.

They got up, took their dirty dishes and walked to the counter calling for their friends. Ingrid and Annie made their way from the kitchen, taking the tableware from them and bidding them goodbye. Edelgard inhaled in the sweet fresh air when the door closed behind them, feeling the warm wind caressing her skin and the night open above them. She breathed in deep, her knees shaken and her strides unsure.

What had just happened? What had they said?

Why did she feel like their relationship had changed?

Edelgard smiled to herself.

They weren’t only coffee buddies anymore, that was a start.

Byleth put on her backpack and looked around, Edelgard felt a jab of longing when she realized how taller Byleth was compared to her. She didn’t seem a musician, neither somebody that worked all day with a computer or bound to a table.

She looked wild, free, untamable, irrepressible.

Edelgard longed for her with no hesitations, no questions to herself anymore.

“So… which way you go?” She asked, hoping to go those last meters toward the subway station with Byleth before they had to say goodbye for the day and wait until the next turn of the world to see each other again and quench a necessity they had built between the two.

“Oh, I usually cycle back home.” Byleth pointed toward the other end of the street, where there was a bike parking. “I can walk you to the station if you want," she said, turning to face her, completely unfazed by the lights from the coffee shop and the silhouettes of Annete and Ingrid wrapping the day up.

“Oh, it won’t be needed, really.” Edelgard shifted the purse on her shoulder and smiled. “Besides, you have my number now, text me to let me know you arrived home safely and we can plan something for the weekend, right?” She said, hopeful. Byleth smiled and nodded.

They remained there, not ready to bid goodbye yet.

But what else was there to say? Edelgard knew, but she wasn’t prepared to say yet. Her words still bubbling and forming in her chest, trying to find the right shape to be born as they wished to be listened to. Byleth rocked in her heels, looking at her boots that were too warm for summer and then to Edelgard, who lingered by her side.

Her thoughts fetched a memory she had forgotten for a long time. Her father, smiling fondly at his kids, little children that were starting to discover themselves and to know what they wished to be.

Her father telling them as a joke that only the brave got what they wanted.

Only the brave breached the gap to seize what they wanted.

Byleth turned again, grabbing Edelgard’s chin so delicately, slow enough for her to pull away, savoring each second, each movement. Each new astonished gloss in her lilac eyes as she got closer and closer.

Just a bit closer.

With people around them, faces that didn’t matter, in the warm night and the lights that covered the stars above them. Byleth breached the gap and kissed her softly, tenderly.

Devotedly.

####  **XI.**

If she was honest, she loved the image of Byleth with a bucket hat and shorts, water knee high as she reeled in her fishing line and threw it out again into the current of the river. It was a Sunday morning and any other day she’d have stayed in bed, scrolling through her phone and letting the morning go by in lazy hours.

Not this weekend.

Not when Byleth had kissed her and called for them to be more. Not when the widest smile she had seen in her face was drawn when inviting her out, her ears perking out as they used to each time she smiled brightly. They were something new, something that didn’t have a name yet but it was theirs to explore and to enjoy and to name and to live.

Edelgard had lost hope long ago of getting close to somebody. She had lost hope in knowing somebody that would spark in her something different, that would cause her to open up and share her secrets and her time.

She had let herself fall into a routine that was rewarding, but not fulfilling.

And Byleth had appeared as a strike of luck, just a mere coincidence in the big scheme of life she didn’t pretend to understand.

Byleth with her music, her smile, her wide blue eyes. Byleth and her kind nature, her soft words and her large warm hands.

Byleth who she admired and loved and longed for. Byleth who had been with her even before she knew her name, her face and the deep love she evoked in her chest when she let herself be lost in her blue eyes and her kind smile.

“El! Look, this is the one I told you about before!” Byleth called, showing her the huge fish she had just caught with a brilliant smile under that bucket hat.

Byleth, who she had never dreamed of, and yet was everything she had ever wished for.

Edelgard smiled and came closer, willing to get into the river and the unknown for her. Willing to leave behind old fears and apprehensions to get to her side and watch from a new perspective that Sunday morning in the summer of Enbarr.

Willing to reach out to Byleth and look toward the future with a new perspective.

Willing to lay her secrets bare and share the burden of living with the newfound love she had never thought herself capable of, but she had harbored anyway.

As seasons would come and go, unknown for them yet, so would their relationship move forward, a relentless, unwavering tale that had been seeded in winter, cared for in spring and bloomed in summer. 

A beaming light of hope and love in their lives that had found each other and intertwined in Enbarr one summer night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We made it to the end! We have another gorgeous piece from Max for this chapter! Please find their profile in the link below!
> 
> [Max](https://twitter.com/pixeIpastry)
> 
> We've gotten to the end of this fluff story! It was really fun to write as I managed different projects, just letting the two of them fall in love was wondergul and I hope you enjoyed this! My respect and admiration go as well for the mods of this event and for bringing together so many writers and artists!  
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated.
> 
> Be safe and until next time!

**Author's Note:**

> This is my collaboration for Edeleth BigBang 2020! I can tell you how happy I am to be part of this project and how wonderful has been to work with all these amazing artists!
> 
> Expect more chapters during the weekend, as this story is ready and just waiting to be served!
> 
> You can also find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/KuroKR_) for more gay stuff.


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